Fate - Another Life
by Newbie1104
Summary: A dying man on the hill of swords meets a bored to dead old Apostle Ancestor. Ever wonder what would happen if the one Shirou Emiya made a deal with before his death wasn't the World, but Zelretch himself? Or what would become of the life of Harry Potter now that Shirou was living it? Read on and find your answer. Rated T at the moment.
1. Chapter 1: The Encounter

**Author's note:**

**Here it is, the first chapter of Fate - Another Life. To be honest I've never intended to write this story. But while writing my other fic, the idea suddenly appeared and it has stuck inside my head ever since. So in the end, I decided that the best way to get rid of it is just sit down and write.**

**About the story itself. This is a somewhat long multi-chapter fic. In the opening, I had changed Shirou's ending a little to fit with the scenario I had in mind. So yeah, just a little warning that this story might go way out of canon in some aspects. But I will still try to retain as much of canon as possible.**

**That's all for now, please enjoy. **

* * *

Shirou Emiya was kneeling under the crimson sky, on what in some ways could be called an empty hill. True, there was no one else there beside him. Only the remains of his last battle were still visible.

The overwhelming stench of blood and smoke covered the atmosphere. But Shirou paid it no mind. He was accustomed with it as long as he could remember. And that was to say, a very long time, from the day he was still just a kid.

The man tried to lift his head up and look around. The scene surrounding him was like a living hell, with countless number of corpses lying all over the hill. But his mind was taken by something else, something completely different.

Swords.

The resemblance was frightening. A sword-filled hill under a blood crimson sky. It was like Shirou was once again standing inside his own Reality Marble, his own world - The Unlimited Bladework. The only difference this time was that this world wasn't a manifestation of his view. This was indeed the real world.

Finally, Shirou turned down to take a look at his own body. He was wearing his favorite battle gear - black tight suit, covered by a layer of red coat. The coat that was given to him by a member of the Burial Agency when they were cooperating in a joint mission.

If there was one thing that was out of place with him, then it would be the big wound that was bleeding quickly in the center of his chest. In normal circumstances, Shirou could easily Trace the Avalon and used it to heal his injuries. But this time, it was different. The wound was fatal, and he had finally burned out all of his reserve prana.

"Ugh..." Coughed up blood. Shirou accepted the fact that he was going to die soon.

He let out a choked laughter, being surprised by seeing that he was actually fine with it. Looking back, the life of the man named Shirou Emiya had indeed been fulfilling. He stayed true to his path, and had been fighting every single day of his life to save those in need. Although he was betrayed by the very same people in the end, Shirou held no grudge against them, nor he blamed them for what they did. He saved those people, and if the price for their salvations was his life, then he would gladly give it.

The only thing Shirou regretted was that this was also the end of his dream. From now on, he wouldn't be able to help anyone anymore. And only that part of him hadn't wanted him to die just yet.

_If only I'm able to live more... _thought Shirou with a bitter smile. _I would do anything to be able to continue helping those around me._

"Is that true?" The voice of an old man suddenly appeared interrupted his thought. "You are willing to do anything, everything to archive that wish?"

Startled, he looked up to see a man standing in front of him. Normally in this case, Shirou would've Traced some of his swords to 'welcome' the stranger already. But this time, just this time, he allowed himself to be careless.

Took another good look at the old man, Shirou realized that he was actually very familiar. The guy looked very old, to the degree of non-human. He had crimson eyes and was wearing a black cloak.

"Zelretch..." He murmured. "What a strange honor..."

"And I will forgive you for not standing up to greet me," said the guy named Zelretch in a playful laughter. "So, what do you say?"

"Say about what?" Shirou asked, coughing up blood again.

"Is it true that..." Zelretch kneeled in front of him. "...you are willing to do anything to be able to save more people?"

"Yes," Shirou was now wondered where was this going.

"Even if that mean you will have to live somebody else's life? Replace him, bearing the burdens that he's supposed to have?" The old man looked straight into his eyes. And in that moment, Shirou realized that Zelretch was very serious.

"Yes," he nodded. Hope had returned inside his mind. "But tell me...ugh... why do I have to...replace that person.?"

"Ah, that," the old man smiled. "You know. I like using my power to observe interesting things in alternate universes." He then tried to act embarrassed but failed miserably. "And then there's a very interesting boy that I 'found'. He has a very exciting life. And what impressed me the most was that: Not any single version of him, no matter in what universe, failed the destiny that he was given. In some way or another, he successfully cleared it..."

Then he paused and grimaced. "Except for one... He died even before getting to know about his mission."

"And...And you want me to..." Asked Shirou weakly. He could feel the last of his power leaving his body."

"That's right," Zelretch nodded. "You will take his place, shoulder his mission to save his world," he paused again and looked at Shirou as if estimating his condition. "I can't save your body though. This body is pretty much dead already. I can just transfer your mind over. And you will live your life all over again, from a kid. That's the price. What do you say?"

"Agreed," Shirou accepted his offer immediately. _I have lived this long already. What's the problem with taking a few more years to grow up again?_ _That's a rather cheap price for another life, and another chance to continue my dream._

"Then we have a deal," Zelretch clapped his hands. "I will give you another chance. In exchange..." He hesitated, choosing his words. "...complete you new destiny. And more importantly, entertain me."

"Deal. You are not joking, right?" Shirou smirked tiredly.

"Not at all," answered Zelretch. "Now, go to sleep. It will be an entirely different world when you wake up."

Follow the old man's words, he closed his eyes and let his mind fade away. But right before he blacked out completely, Zelretch voice once again appeared.

"Oh I forgot to mention this. But your memories may take some time before they come back to you, so don't worry if you won't be able to remember everything right away, okay?"

_What!? _Shirou wanted to shout out in shock, but all his could do now was do so in his head. _Are you freaking kidding me, old man? You are supposed to tell me that first hand._

"Don't worry. They will come back eventually," said the old man. And that's the last thing Shirou heard before falling into the compete darkness.

* * *

Harry Potter was lying awake on his bed in the middle of the night. He just had the strange dream that he had been having since he was a kid.

In those dreams, what Harry saw could be described with one word - Hell. He saw a raging fire engulf a whole big part of a large area. And around him people are dying, or screaming for the help that would never come.

What made those dreams special was that they were so _real. _Harry could even feel the heat of the fire going rampage, see everything engulfed in flame and hear the screams of the agonizing people that he had never met before. In the past, every time that happened, he would woke up, crying and sweating all over.

Harry had gotten past the crying part over the years as he grew used to seeing the dreams. But the fact that they were still haunting his sleeps bothered the boy so much. He had no idea why did they appear in the first place. When Harry saw one of them for the first time, he guessed that was why his parents died. But after hearing his relatives' explanation about how he became an orphan through a car accident, Harry had dismissed that possibility entirely.

_There was something different this time though, _he closed his eyes, trying to remember the new details in his lasted dream. _There was... a man. He was looking at me and smiling happily..., _that was the first time Harry saw him._ I wonder why. What's so happy about a hellish scene like that? And who was he anyway?_

Finally gave up on figuring out who the stranger was, Harry got up and went out of the cupboard under the stair, which was his room, to get himself a cup of water. While drinking, he looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall, and realized that it was already past midnight.

_Another day has passed, _Harry remarked quietly, and remembered that his eleventh birthday would be just a week from now. But that didn't cheered him up much.

Normally, for most of the boys his age, birthdays were supposed to be very special. But for Harry, it was no different from every other days of the year.

The reason for that was actually very simple. After his parents passed away, Harry was brought here - Number 4 Privet Drive - to live with his only relatives - the Dursleys. The only problem was his aunt and uncle hated his parents deeply for some reasons, and that hatred was transferred over to poor Harry from the moment he started his life in this house.

For ten years, the boy had always been the bullying subject for the Dursleys. His uncle - Mr. Vernon - yelled at him all day, or even hit him whenever he was stressed, or upset with something. His aunt Petunia on the other hand, had forced Harry to do most of the house chores every day, and punished him severely if he couldn't made it to her standard.

And there was also their prince, Dudley Dursley. He was a fat little boy who loved bullying Harry. Dudley even had his friends over to hunt Harry together. In those time, the poor boy just quietly snuck out of the house and went around the streets until it was safe to go home once again.

_Even what I'm wearing now is Dudley's leftover, _Harry grimaced when he looked at the over-sized clothes on his slim body.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it. Although, on some occasions, Harry met some strange dressed people on the streets, and they appeared to know about him. But every time he tried to get close, they all disappeared mysteriously. Still, it give the boy hope that someday, there would be other people than the Dursleys that was willing to take him in.

And speaking of strangeness, there was also something not normal about Harry himself. Appearance wise, he had a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, which he assumed came from the car accident. And more than often, the boy found himself in several strange situations that even he couldn't explain.

For example, when aunt Petunia spotted him coming back from the barber with his hair being just like when he left the house. She was so furious that he almost shaved his head, only left a bit in front of his forehead to cover the scar. Poor Harry was so scared of going to school next day in that state. But to his surprise, in the next morning, all of his hair magically grew back like nothing ever happened. Needless to say, his aunt and uncle were so pissed off at him. And Harry got grounded for a month after that incident.

There was also another time, when Harry was chased by a large dog from the family of one of Dudley's friend. The dog's size was almost twice as him, and it chased him around the neighborhood. Eventually, Harry ran into a dead end and was cornered. Terrified, he desperately grabbed a stick he saw leaned against a wall trying to protect himself. But what happened next was something that Harry could never forget. When he started to swing the stick around, his body suddenly moved so naturally like he was an experienced swordsman. And after Harry finally regained himself again, the dog was already unconscious.

Of course the boy couldn't explain how did that happen. While Harry did have a strange obsession with swords and blades, he had never ever held a sword in real life. But in the end, Harry was still got punished badly by his relatives.

That wasn't the end of it. In the latest event, he 'accidentally' released a freaking Boa Constrictor by making the protecting glass of its enclosure disappeared when visiting the zoo with the Dursley during Dudley's birthday. Even crazier, Harry could swear that the giant snake _talked_ to him right before the glass vanished.

Shook his head to clear his strange thoughts, the now-eleven-year-old boy started to feel sleepy again.

_I guess it's time to go back to bed. _Putting the cup he used back onto the cupboard, Harry started going back to his so called 'bedroom', all the while stretching his body and letting out a huge yawn.

* * *

A few hours later, Harry woke up feeling rested. It was still pretty early in the morning, but he better be quick and started making breakfast before the Dursleys woke up. Or else...

Actually, it wasn't much of a chore for him as cooking was fortunately one of his hobbies. For today's breakfast, he decided to go with the classic fried bacons and eggs. While there were many other dishes that Harry could make, there weren't enough ingredients in the fridge for anything else when he took a look. That also mean there would be a shopping trip waiting for him this afternoon.

_Well, _thought Harry as he flipped the eggs. _It isn't really that much of joy cooking for the Dursleys. But at least it's still better than getting beaten or chased around the neighborhood._

"Oi, brat," Mr. Dursleys loud hoarse voice came in from the hallway just as Harry was getting done with the cooking and was now setting the table. "Breakfast ready yet?"

"Yes, uncle Vernon," he answered while his relatives walked into the kitchen. Then without a single word to thanks their nephew, nor any sign showing that they ever noticed his existence, the three of them sat down around the table and started to eat.

During the meal, Harry was still retained his invisibility status as he watched his cousin trying on the new uniform. This year, both Harry and Dudley would go to secondary school. That mean, for the first time ever in his life, Harry wouldn't have to bear the presences of the fat boy and his annoying friends at school. And maybe he could finally make some friends. At the school he was in now, no one wanted to get close to 'that Harry Potter' that Dudley's gang hated. So naturally, the boy had to go through five entire years in desolation.

Grimaced at the bad memories and tried to finish his own breakfast, Harry almost missed the familiar sound of the letters that came every morning through the front door.

"Harry," ordered Mr. Dursley, not even bother taking a look at his nephew. "Get the mail."

Silently obeyed his uncle, Harry got up from his seat and went to the door. On the floor nearby, there was already a thick pack of mails waiting for him. Picked it up, Harry browsed through the pile of papers.

_Bill, bill, bill, _thought the boy as he looked at each of the letters in total boredom. _More bill, letter from aunt Petunia's friend, bill again, postcard, neighborhood's notice, bill, letter for Harry Potter, bill..._

_Wait a minute, _finally realized something out of place, Harry immediately took another look at the mail addressed to him in bright green ink. At first, he thought that he mistook the name written. But after staring at it for almost a minute, Harry had to admit that the letter was indeed for him. It said:

**To Mr. Harry Potter.**

**Cupboard under the staircase. Number 4 Privet Drive.**

_They could even tell where my room is, _his eyes widened in surprise. Of course there was no telling how the sender of this letter could possibly know about that. But whoever that was, it appeared that he or she knew about Harry and wanted to contact him.

_But who might they be? _Wondered the boy trying to remember someone who was able to do something like this. But nothing came to mind. This family was Harry's only relative left, and he had no friend, either.

Then Harry thought of the strangers that he sometimes saw on the streets. They approached him, greeted him and shook his hand, but always vanished before he managed to ask any question.

_It could be one of them, _Harry guessed, looking at the envelope in his hand again. _But if that's the case. Then why now? They didn't contacted me at all in ten years. So why are they suddenly interested now?_

Many questions popped up inside his head. But no matter how much Harry thought about it, he still couldn't find any answer for any of the questions. In the end, the boy started to feel an incoming headache. So he decided to temporary set the matter aside since there was no point rushing into a dead end.

_Might not be a good idea to let the Dursley see this, _Harry stopped halfway to the kitchen as the thought popped up inside his mind. He then hid the letter under his shirt before coming inside and handed over the rest of the pile to his uncle.

"What took you so long, you useless brat?" Vernon glared at him annoyingly. It wasn't a surprise. Everything that Harry did, no matter right or wrong, always annoyed the Dursley.

"I'm sorry, uncle Vernon," he apologized politely. But after noticing that the man's glare had become even more annoyed than before, Harry hastily added. "I'm done with breakfast now, so I will come back to my room. The boy then quickly cleaned his own plate, then get out of the kitchen as fast as he could.

After securely lying on his bed, Harry pulled out the letter and once again looked at the words ran through the envelope.

"Yup, no mistake. This is indeed for me," he mumbled. The boy then opened the letter , taking a look at its content.

Harry raised an eyebrow seeing two parchments inside the envelope. This was the first time he saw a letter used that kind of material. But again, maybe it wasn't that uncommon, Harry had never gotten anything sent for him after all.

Took one out of their cover, Harry started to read. He was extremely curious about what was that that the strange people (he assumed) wanted to tell him about. He read it the first time, then second time from the top. However, the boy couldn't believe what's written in front of his eyes.

Apparently, according to the letter, Harry was accepted into some kind of magic school named Hogwarts. Their new school year would begin on 1 September. And they would wait for his owl until 31 July.

_What do they mean by 'await your owl'? _Harry was confused. There wasn't a single thing in the letter that made sense. School of Witchcraft and Wizardly? That sounded like some kind of joke people would pull on the April's Fool. But now it was July already. And even if it wasn't, Harry still didn't find it any funny.

After that, Harry spent the entire morning lying in his room, thinking about the letter's content. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of any acceptable explanation. In the end, the boy fell asleep due to the exhaustion of having too many mysteries to think about in one morning.

* * *

_Harry suddenly found himself standing in a large yard of what he thought was some kind of school. The boy was currently hiding himself in a bush next to a warehouse. After awhile, Harry realized that he was currently peaking at what seemed to be a fight._

_But it wasn't a normal fight. The scene in front of him at that moment was just like what could only be seen on a movie. Right in front of the gate a bit away from Harry's hiding spot, a man in red and another in blue was fighting each other with clear killing intents._

_Harry gasped at the unbelievable scene. He was mesmerized. The blue guy, who was holding something like a long red spear, was attacking, striking, thrusting at a lighting speed. Harry couldn't see any of his movements. But the boy was surprised even more to see that no matter how fast or dangerous the strikes were, the man in red would just either block or parry them with what appeared to be a pair of short blades._

_"What fascinating swords..."Harry murmured at the sight of black and white steels dancing around in the air._

_Then all of a sudden, he caught a glimpse of the red man's face. And an unexplainable hatred started to rise in his heart. Surprised, Harry tried to calm himself down. Obviously, the boy didn't know who that guy was, or what did he do. They had never met before, so how could he hate him that much? However, despite trying his very best, every time the red guy turned his face to Harry's direction, the boy could still feel a strong urge to go out there and kill that man right on the spot._

_"Hold on a sec," the blue guy's voice interrupted Harry's thought. "I think I saw somebody over there." He said, looking over the place that Harry was standing._

He spotted me, _the boy paled. He now realized that he might have witnessed something he shouldn't. And he had already seen how crazy those men were. If he didn't get out of there now, there would be a very bad ending waiting for him._

_With that in mind, Harry immediately left his hiding spot and ran toward one of the buildings. But to his horror, when he turned around, the guy in blue had already started chasing him._

_"Don't run, boy," He shouted while dashing toward Harry with insane speed. "It will be over quickly."_

_Ignored his words, Harry found himself using all of his strength to speed up and rushed into the nearest building. Who in his right mind would ever listen to someone that was trying to __**kill**__ him anyway? He ran through the entire first floor, and climbed the staircase. His lungs felt like they were gonna explode, his muscles were screaming and his mind started to blank out due to the lack of oxygen. But suddenly, the presence of the blue man behind him disappeared._

_Standing in the middle of a long hallway on the third floor, Harry couldn't hear the other guy anymore. However, he still didn't stop to catch a breath, just running slower. In a situation like that, the silence of this place was horrifying. A chill went up his spine as the boy felt like his chaser was going to jump out from any classroom that he passed by, and was even started by the rustle sound of his own clothes. It was just like living in a real life horror movie._

_"Going somewhere?" Suddenly from nowhere, the blue man appeared in front of him. Shocked, Harry jumped backward and fell to the floor._

He caught me... _He was terrified. _He caught me. Now I'm dead for sure.

_Now that they were very close to each other, Harry finally had a good look on the man for the first time._

_He was a very handsome guy with tall, well-built body and strangely blue hair. He was wearing some kind of tight blue armor and holding onto his red spear. That was what caught Harry's attention. Not only because that weapon would be the thing that was going to end his life, it was also because he could feel something very evil and full of malice coming out of it._

_"You shouldn't run like that," the spearman walked slowly toward Harry. "You've witnessed something you shouldn't. And it would be so much easier for both of us if you could stop running."_

Like hell it is, you are gonna kill me, _Harry wanted to shout that out. But his mind and also his body had froze from fear. No matter how much he tried, the boy couldn't even move one muscle._

_"Good boy," said the blue man with a triumphant smirk as he started rising the spear. "Now bear with it for awhile. This will be over soon."_

_And even before Harry be able to completely process what he just said. The guy brought his arm down. And Harry could feel clearly that a metal bar ripped open his chest and went through his heart. Blood spurted out from where the spear connected and pain exploded inside the poor boy's body as the core of his life was destroyed. Finally, he fell down with a loud 'Thud!' like a puppet whose strings were cut off._

So this is how death feel like? _Wondered Harry as the pain, and even his own senses started to fade away._

* * *

Harry Potter had just woken up from his unexpected nap. He had a nightmare and jolted awake into a sitting position too fast that he loudly banged his head onto the ceiling of the cupboard that was now called his bedroom. That little incident made a big bruise on his forehead and now leaving him with a headache to go together with the piercing pain on his chest over the heart.

_What a horrible nightmare, _gritted his teeth because of the pain, Harry looked down at his chest. There was nothing there, no wound, no blood. Of course, he was stabbed inside his dream, not inside this cupboard. After all, Harry would've been dead if that was the case.

_What was that all about? _He lied back down and let out a painful grunt. _This is the first time I've ever seen that dream. Who are those two man? Why did they appear in my dream and ki...kill me..._

Unconsciously put his hand over his heart, Harry started to remember the feeling of the red man's spear. It was so real that it became sickening, the feeling of your heart being ripped open. The boy just wanted to vomit when that sensation came back to his mind.

Suddenly, there was someone banged loudly on to the door. That made the poor boy startled, sat up quickly and once again kissed the ceiling with his head on the same spot.

"What the..." Wiped away his tears of pain, Harry opened his bedroom's door only to see aunt Petunia glaring at him.

"What are you doing so loudly in there?" She growled.

"I'm sorry," said Harry, still rubbing his head. "I kind of banged my head onto the ceiling."

"Hmp, noisy brat," she turned away with a look of disgust. "Hurry up and get to the kitchen. It's almost lunch time already."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry nodded obediently as he followed Mrs. Dursley to the kitchen.

* * *

Zelretch was now sitting in his old office at the Clock Tower. The old Dead Apostle rarely came back there as he enjoy traveling around and playing pranks on people. But since today was an important day, Zelretch just didn't find himself interested in going outside. He just sat there and stared at the big old clock on the wall opposite of his desk, waiting for the right time to move.

_The boy should've gotten his Hogwarts letter already, _took another look through the Kaleidoscope, Zelretch could now see the boy cooking lunch for his relatives' family. It had become a habit of the old man to observe Harry (or Shirou) everyday for a few hours, just to make sure that everything was still going on its proper track.

Almost eleven years ago, Zelretch had made a deal with a dying man on the hill of swords, that in exchange for giving him another chance to save more people, the 'hero' Shirou Emiya would have to entertain the old Dead Apostle. Yes, pure entertainment. It might sound weird, even somehow insane, to normal people. But with one who had lived for so long like Zelretch, some really exciting entertainments were all he needed. But believe it or not, that wasn't something easy to get, especially when your sense of humor wasn't considered 'normal' by the others.

Anyway, in order to fulfill his end of the deal, Zelretch had transferred Shirou's mind into the body of the dying one year old Harry Potter on the night of the attack in Godric Hollow. All other versions of Harry in other alternate universes survived Lord Voldermort's Killing Curse that night. But for some unknown reasons, only that one couldn't. It enraged Zelretch, but excited him at the same time. From that point onward, the old man had always been wanting to see how the boy's life would turn out now that Shirou was living it. That, to him, was a high quality entertainment.

_But how interesting would it be, if I were to interfere as well? _Some months ago, that thoughts started to make its way into Zelretch's mind, and refused to leave him alone. Being the kind of person he was, of course the old man himself didn't wanted such a great idea to go to waste either.

With that in mind, the Dead Apostle Ancestor had spent most of his time to come up with a plan. And today was the day he brought it into action.

_I guess it's time to go, _thought Zelretch as he looked at the time once again. It was now the middle of the afternoon. Stood up and walked away from the desk, the old man activated his Kaleidoscope.

He wanted to visit the Dursleys' house. Shirou Emiya was gonna need a guide to the world of magic. And since that was the case, it would better for the guide to be Zelretch himself, rather than that half-giant Rubert Hagrid, who was going to visit the boy one week from now. His carelessness aside, there was something else that the big man lacked. And that was the knowledge about the world of magecraft. Shirou needed to be retrained since most of his memories still hadn't come back yet.

* * *

As expected, around three in the afternoon, Harry was ordered to go for a groceries run by his aunt while he was sitting in the garden, trying to progress the strange events that happened in the morning.

"Hurry up. The floor still need to be mopped when you come back," said Mrs. Dursley as Harry walked out of the door.

_Of course, it's always me. _Taking a turn at the corner and finally got out of Petunia's sight, Harry let out a big depressed sigh.

But it wasn't like he could do anything about it. No matter how much they disliked each other, the Dursleys were still Harry's only relatives and the only ones who were willing to take him in. That didn't stop the boy from hoping that one day, someone else would come and rescue him from them though. And now, despite being all suspicious about the letter delivered to him this morning, Harry suddenly found himself wanting it to be true. Inside, what he really needed right now was a miracle, and a school that taught you magic sounded just like one.

_Well, not that I really believe in it anyway, _sighed again, the boy walked through the door of the local mall in Little Whinging. He pulled out the shopping list that Petunia gave him and took a look at it.

_We are out of rice too? _Harry grimaced seeing the items that he had to carry later. _It's not gonna be light. Guess I will have to buy it last. Now let's see...where is the pork..._

After thirty minutes of running around the mall behind the trolley, the boy finally managed to buy all the things needed, and was now trying to bring them home. As expected, the bag of rice proved to be quite a challenge.

"Are you sure you will be able to carry all that, little boy?" Asked the cashier gently as she saw Harry trying to take all the bags by himself. "We have a delivery service, you know?"

"I will be fine, thank you." Smiled gratefully at her, Harry was now able to get everything into the plastic bags that he was currently holding in both hands.

_I'm not saying that I hate shopping. But this is overkill. _Gritted his teeth trying to endure the pain from the plastic pushing and grinding against his palm, he heavily stepped out of the mall and was now heading back home. The image of a frail little boy carrying groceries that seemed almost as heavy as him had drawn the attentions of many bystanders on the street. It wasn't really bothering Harry though, since this wasn't the first time something like that happened, minus the rice bag.

Luckily, the mall wasn't too far from the Dursleys' house. After about ten minutes of fighting the groceries on the street, Harry finally made it back.

"I'm home," the boy said as he stepped into the house.

But unlike what Harry expected, only silence greeted him. Actually, the Dursley didn't usually greeted him back either. But there should still be some other noises, like their voices talking to each other, or the television. This complete silence was just too strange.

"Uncle? Aunt?" Harry called out. "Dudley?"

_Weird, _thought Harry, walking down the hallway. _Did they go somewhere without telling me again?_

However, when he got into the kitchen, all of his doubts were cleared seeing Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were sitting at the dining table when Dudley was nowhere in sight. From the seat opposite of them, there was an old man who Harry had never met. According to the shocked and somewhat terrified looks on his relatives' face with their jaws hung open, the silence from before was understandable.

The stranger dressed in a formal black suit with a matching necktie. At first, he seemed like nothing but a normal old man, might be older than anyone that Harry knew, but not very strange. But when the boy finally got a look at his face, he almost jumped backward in surprised. The man's eyes had a deep crimson color. One that can only be seen in books or movies.

_It's odd how those eyes seem to suit him perfectly, _remarked Harry as he calmed himself down.

"Ah, nice to finally see you, Harry," the stranger gently smiled and stood up to shake the boy's hand. "I'm Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. But you can call me Zelretch."

"Ah... Excuse me. But do I know you?" Asked Harry hesitantly as he took a glance at his relatives. The Dursleys still looked like they were in too much of a shock to say anything.

"You do," Zelretch sat back down in his seat and answered. "We've met before. But it's not strange that you forgot about me. It's been a long time after all. By the way, the tea's great." He turned over and thanked Petunia. That made the woman twitched and tried to hide herself even more behind her husband.

This was the first time Harry saw them behave that way. And needless to say, the boy found the whole scene to be quite interesting.

"Anyway," put down his cup, the old man looked back at Harry. His smile was still visible. "As I've explained to your relative before you got home. I'm here to talk about the letter you received this morning, Harry."

"Letter..." Hearing his words, Harry's jaw dropped wide open. "You...you mean the Hogwarts letter?" The boy could feel that his uncle and aunt's expression changed uncomfortably when the word 'Hogwarts' came out of his mouth. But he chose to ignore them. There are more important things to focus on at the moment.

"Exactly," Zelretch nodded. "And I believe that you've already read the letter?"

"Yes, I have," answered Harry, still couldn't believe in his ears. "So are you saying...they are real? Hogwarts...and all the magic stuffs?"

"Of course they are," Zelretch said cheerfully and stood up once again. "Here, if you need some demonstrations..."

Immediately afterward, even before Harry could understand what Zelretch mean, the old man suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye.

"What the..." Harry's jaw opened even more. But the boy couldn't finish his sentence as he felt a hand put on his shoulder which made him startled and jumped forward, tumbled on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," from behind laughing happily, Zelretch grabbed Harry's hand and helped him stood up straight. "Do you want me to do something else? Or that's enough to prove that magic is real?"

"It's amazing," the boy's face beamed up. "So... If I go to school at Hogwarts, I will be able to do that too?"

"Maybe?" Maybe not?" The old man looked at him with an amused expression. "It depends on whether you have what it takes to be able to learn it or not."

"Ah right," said Harry, a bit disappointed. "I guess there's that too, huh..."

"Alright," for the first time since Harry got here, Mr. Dursley opened his mouth and spoke. "That's enough, sir. I don't know who you are. But you are trespassing illegally. Therefore please leave our house. I won't allow you to tell the boy anymore about all that nonsense."

Seeing Vernon's reaction, Zelretch was about to say something. But Harry was quicker than him.

"Wait..." Once again the boy had a disbelieving look on his face. "Does that mean... you know about this from the start?" He asked his uncle.

"Of course we know." However, his aunt was the one who answered the question. "You are just like your parents. They also got themselves involved with all that freaky stuffs and then finally got blown up," she said with a super high-pitch voice that made Harry's ears hurt.

"What...what are you talking about?" The boy stuttered, feeling a bit terrified of this sudden revelation. "Didn't they die in a car accident?"

"That's not true, Harry." This time Zelretch spoke up. "But seeing your relatives' attitude. It didn't surprise me that they hid the truth from you."

"I have to stop you now, sir." Mr. Dursley growled. Angry veins popped out from his tempers. "You can't say anything more to the brat. That's enough."

"Oh...? Is that so?" The old man grinned mockingly with transparent enjoyment on his face. "It's such a same. And here I am, planning to take Harry with me after explaining everything to him."

"You what?" Harry and the Dursleys loudly asked in unison. What Zelretch just said had no doubt created a huge impact on them.

"Wh...what do you mean by that?" Finally, Harry asked in a trembling voice.

"Dear Harry," Zelretch turned to look at him, the gentle smile once again returned. "That means you would come to live with me. Only if you want, of course."

"Really?..." The boy was clearly shocked by his proposal. But before he was able to say something else. Mr. Dursley cut him off.

"You really mean that?" He asked eagerly. "The brat will go with you, forever?"

"I wouldn't dare to say 'forever', Mr. Dursley," answered Zelretch with a satisfying grin. "But yes. If you allow Harry to go to school at Hogwarts, then the boy will come with me. Which mean you and your family won't have to see him for a long time."

"Fine," said Vernon instantly. But then he hesitated a little, and added. "But I won't pay for the brat's school fee."

"But...dear...?" For some reasons, Mrs. Dursley didn't seem to be very sure about letting her nephew go. "I think we shouldn't..."

"Please don't worry, Mrs. Dursley," Zelretch, as if sensed her thoughts, quickly reassured the woman. "I will make sure that Harry's going to be completely safe once he's with me."

"But..."

"It's okay, Petunia," Mr. Dursley jumped in. "He said the brat's going to be okay. And isn't this what we've always wanted?"

Mrs. Dursley looked like she wanted to argue some more. But after thinking it through, she finally accepted that it was better not saying anything.

"That's settled then," clapped his hands, Zelretch turned back to Vernon. "And don't worry about the money, Mr. Dursley. that had been taken care of." Then he looked at Harry, smiled warmly. "All that left is your decision, Harry. Do you want to come with me? Or you wish to continue living with your relatives?"

_I've already known what the answer is, _thought Harry. _I think I can trust him._ During the others' conversation, he had been thinking a lot. Of course, he had just met Zelretch for the first time. But there was something about the old man that felt so familiar. It was like they had known about each other even before this meeting. Besides, this was exactly what Harry had always wanted. To be able to get out of the Dursleys' house, might be for forever, was the miracle that he really needed.

"I want to come with you, sir," looked back at Zelretch, Harry answered solemnly.

"Very good," The old man grinned. "Then for now you should come back to your room and pack your things. I have to arrange something else with your uncle and aunt."

Smiled at Zelretch and nodded his head, Harry walked out of the kitchen and headed to his room. All that while with a satisfying smile on his face.

_So magic is real, _the boy excitedly thought as he took out a small travelling bag and started to put his stuffs in. There was nothing much really, since the Dursley rarely bought him anything, most of his luggage now was Dudley's leftover clothes.

There were still so many questions that he needed to ask Zelretch. How did his parents die? Why only now that the magic world made contact with him? Why was he left with the Dursleys in the first place. And so many other ones going rampaging inside his mind.

When Harry finished packing, he came back out to the hallway and saw Zelretch had already waiting for him together with his relatives. Mr. Dursley seemed very happy with the recent arrangement. But the look in his wife's eyes were something that Harry couldn't understand. Was it fear? Or worry? And was that a trace of sadness that he saw? The boy couldn't be sure.

"I'm all done," Harry informed the old man. "So we are leaving now?"

"Yes, we are," Zelretch nodded. "Say goodbye to your relatives, Harry."

Turned over to the Dursleys, Harry suddenly felt something that he had never imagined that he could feel. The boy was so surprised to see that he actually felt a bit sad saying goodbye to his aunt and uncle. But it's understandable, they had lived together for almost ten years after all.

"So... Good bye, uncle Vernon," he finally said. "Good bye, aunt Petunia. I hope to see you again."

"Goodbye..." Mrs. Dursley said hesitantly.

"Good bye, brat." Mr. Dursley waved his hand. "Go and never come back."

With that, Harry followed Zelretch out of the house he had been living in since he was just a kid. Took one last look at number four Privet Drive, the boy then turned his eyes toward the old man.

"So where are we going now, sir?" He asked, couldn't hide his own excitement.

"Your new home, Harry," Zelretch took the boy's hand. "And from now on, just call me Zelretch."

And before Harry was able to answer, everything around him turned all blurry. All the houses, the trees and the street just disappeared. After awhile, the whole scene became solid again. But the two of them was no longer standing in the Dursleys' front yard.

Instead, Harry found himself and Zelretch now facing a big and beautiful western style mansion . Surrounding it was a large yard with many type of trees and statues as decorations. And from what Harry guessed, then they probably were nowhere near the Little Whinging anymore. Since the boy had lived there for ten years, and he had never seen or heard about a place like this.

"So, what do you think of your new home?" Asked Zelretch as they walked together to the front door.

"It's amazing," Harry simply answered, wondering how his life would turn out now that he finally got away from the Dursleys. Or more importantly, now that he knew that he could use magic.

**End of chapter 1.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Shopping Trip

**Author's note:**

**Second chapter's out. I'd like to say 'thank you' to all of my readers and reviewers. Who had taken their time to read and give me their thoughts.**

**This chapter is noticeably longer than the first. I didn't plan for it to end up this way, though. But after I finished writing, the wc had already reached ~11k.**

**Also, this chapter is mostly about Harry - Zelretch's interactions, with some new characters whom is going to be introduced in the last bit.**

**That's all for now. Please enjoy.**

* * *

As a habit from the time he was still living with the Dursleys, Harry's first activity after waking up, brushing his teeth and washing his face was come straight to the kitchen and started making breakfast.

It's a natural thing to see a fully equipped kitchen in this kind of mansion. But what surprised the boy was that in the fridge, there were so many ingredients of many different kinds. After all, Zelretch didn't seem like the kind of person who would cook for himself, and there were no housekeeper around here either, which was a rather weird thing since this was such a big mansion, there was no way for the old man to be able to maintain everything all by himself.

Anyway, the only acceptable explanation for the food stock was that they were prepared for Harry's arrival, as Zelretch somehow knew about his hobby. But in the end, it was nothing but an assumption on Harry's part since the old man had already implied that he had known the boy even before their meeting at number four Privet Drive.

_Well, I would just ask Zelretch about it later, _thought Harry as he started choosing which ingredients he would use. And for today, the boy decided to make a simple meal with toast and butter or yam, together with sausages, and of course, tea. They were traditional breakfast dishes and were rather easy to make too.

About thirty minutes later, when the kitchen had already been filled with the delicious smells of grilled sausages and tea, Zelretch appeared from the second floor and joined Harry for breakfast.

"So what do you think, Zelretch?" Asked the boy as both of them sat down around the dining table. "How's my food? I've cooked so many times for the Dursleys already. But you see...ermm... it's not like they would give me their opinions..."

Smiling gently at Harry's question, the old man answered. "It's great. You really have talent for this."

"Really?" Harry beamed up happily. "Thank you. Ah, by the way..." the boy now remembered about all the stuffs inside the fridge. "...do you also cook? Because I saw a lot of ingredients stored in the fridge earlier. And I see no housekeeper around here. So..."

"Ah, about that," Zelretch looked at him while taking a sip from his tea cup. "No, actually I don't cook at all. Those were prepared for you before I went to the Dursleys' house."

_Just as I thought, _Harry nodded. "But how do you know that I like cooking?"

"I know a lot of things, Harry," the old man grinned mysteriously. "I can use magic, remember?"

"Ahh..." the boy's mouth widened in surprise. "So...so it's like you can read my mind or something?"

"Not really," Zelretch laughed, waving his hand playfully. "But it's probably too hard for you to understand now even if I explained it. So let's just go with that for now. Once you learned more, I will tell you."

"Okay. If you say so..." Harry hung his head down disappointedly. But after awhile, he looked back up at the Apostle. "Uhm... Yesterday, you said we've met before. When was it? I...I just can't remember seeing you at all."

"Well," looked away as if trying to recall his memories, Zelretch then told the boy. "I first saw you almost ten years ago, on your first birthday..."

"Wait..." Harry grimaced. "You mean... on the night my parents died?" The Dursleys had already told him the date of his parents' death. So knowing that the man in front of him had met them on the very same day thrilled the boy. "Actually, about that. How did they die? You also said yesterday that it wasn't a car accident that killed them."

"Are you sure you want to learn about that now?" The old man raised an eyebrow. "That kind of story usually can wait until you are older."

"I'm fine," replied Harry with a serious expression. "I think I have the right to know about that."

"True. And I don't see any reason to stop you either," Zelretch nodded after staring at him for awhile. "To tell the truth, your parents - James and Lily Potter - are both wizards."

Harry didn't say anything, just keep looking at the old Apostle with genuine interest.

"They are great wizards, Harry," the old man continued after another sip from his cup. "And there's something you should know. At that time, the Wizarding world was in a terrible Civil War, a very dark time. The leader of...let's say the "dark" side..." Harry noticed that Zelretch snorted mockingly at the word 'dark'. "...was a powerful wizard called Lord Voldermort. He was so, so powerful and cruel that even nowadays, a decade after the end of his reign, the residents of the magic world are still afraid to say his name out loud. Instead, they referred him as 'You-know-who' or 'He-who-should-not-be-named'."

Stopped to catch his breath, Zelretch smiled. "You got all that?"

Harry quietly nodded.

"Very well," then the old man went on. "Anyway, your parents were on the 'light' side at that time," he snorted again. "And there was no denying that they posed a huge threat to the Dark Lord. So on your birthday ten years ago, Voldermort himself decided to take a visit to Godric Hollow, which was where your old house was, and well... I think you can figure out the rest." Waved his hand, Zelretch then poured himself another cup of tea.

"So... that Voldermort killed my parents?"... Harry looked at the old man thoughtfully. "Then how come I'm still alive? I must be there when he came, right? And I don't think a Dark Lord's someone who would go around killing people but spare some children's lives on a wimp."

"Good point, Harry." Zelretch laughed in amusement. "No, he didn't spare your life," he shook his head slowly. "Voldermort actually tried to kill you. But it wasn't successful. For some unknown reasons, at the time he fired the Killing Curse at you, the spell backfired. The Dark Lord then disappeared. And here you are, with that scar on your forehead."

"Hmmm..." Harry was now even more confused. "So... he died?"

"Some may say so," the Apostle shrugged. "But personally, I don't think that's the case. Anyway, even if Voldermort's alive, he won't be able to do anything. The backfired curse seemed to have destroyed his body. And he's nothing but a vengeful ghost now."

The boy raised an eyebrow when he heard about ghosts. But then calmed himself down. If magic was real, then having some ghosts strolling around somewhere shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

"Actually..." Harry said hesitantly. "There was something else that I wanted to ask you about. Is that okay?"

"Go ahead," Zelretch looked at him curiously.

"You see," the boy started. "Ever since I was a kid, I've been having strange dream about a huge fire incident that killed many people. And I thought that they are my memories of the day my parents died. But recently, I start to think that it isn't the case. Especially after another weird dream I had just yesterday before you came."

"What's it about?" Asked the old man. Harry could sense a clear interest in his voice.

"Well," he scratched his head, trying to remember as much detail as possible. "It was a dream where I saw two men fighting each other. One in blue and the other in red. There was something about them that seemed...inhuman, you know?" Closed his eyes, Harry was now recreating the scene inside his head. "They were fighting with clear killing intents and unbelievable speed. However, after awhile, the man in blue spotted 'me' hiding nearby. So he chased and...killed 'me'."

Unintentionally, he put his right hand over his chest, where the feeling of the red spear ripped through was still visible. Harry could feel that his heart just throbbed painfully.

"That's not all," he continued. "There's also another thing that has been bothering me very much. You know, those dreams, they are so real. It was like I was living them. When I was dreaming about the fire, I could also feel its scorching heat, or hear the dying people's desperate screams. And when I was being killed in the other one, I could also feel clearly the feeling of my heart being ripped open. I'm feeling that even now." Rubbed his chest, Harry trembled and let out a groan as the pain reappeared together with the memory.

"I may have the answer for that," Zelretch nodded understandingly after hearing the boy's problem. "There's something you should know though. If I'm right, which I usually am, then it wasn't _'like you were living those dreams'_. It was _'you actually lived those dreams'_. In another word..." he then paused and looked at Harry seriously. "...they are your memories."

"Are you serious?" Harry's eyes squinted in disbelief at the old man's explanation. And he was surprised when Zelretch just slowly shook his head.

"How is that possible?" The boy asked in confusion. "If they were my memories. How come I didn't know anything about them. The fire dream aside, I've never been where I was in the other one, not to mention when the guy killed me. I may have survived the Killing Curse, sure. But I don't think I could pull that miracle off when a spear pierced my heart."

"Calm down Harry," Zelretch waved his hand. "I said they are your memories. But I didn't say they are your memories from _this you."_

"Are you saying those are my memories from my previous life?" Harry smiled doubtfully. He just couldn't believe in what the man in front of him just said. It was simply not normal.

"In some aspects, yes," the old man nodded. "But it's not entirely true. Listen, it's impossible to completely explain it to you as you are now. So just tell me when you have more of those dreams, and we will discuss further about this, okay?"

Harry was about to argue and say that he wanted to know more. But after thinking it through, he reluctantly accepted that it wouldn't solve anything even if he keep pushing. Zelretch would've told him already if the old man thought it was the right time.

"Ahh...Fine..." Harry sighed unhappily as he stood up and started to clean the table.

"Good," Zelretch also stood up. "Now I need to go outside for awhile, to prepare for your Hogwarts school fees and supplies cost. I will be back in about an hour or so. In the meantime you can do anything you like around the house."

"Ah... Wait a minute," Harry suddenly remembered another problem. "About my school fees... You also heard what uncle Vernon said, right? What are you going to do about that?"

"Don't worry," the old man smiled gently, waving his hand. "That has already been covered. I will tell you more when I get back. Now I really have to go."

"Oh, sure." Harry shrugged as he turned his attention back to the sink. "See you later, Zelretch."

"See you, boy," said the old Apostle. He then suddenly vanished once again.

"I hope I would be able to do that soon. It seems so convenient." mumbled Harry as he stared at the spot where Zelretch had been standing until just a moment ago. However, this time, a weird slight smell of blood suddenly appeared in the air. But before he could react, it was gone completely right at the next moment.

_I must've imagined it, _shaking his head, Harry hurriedly finished with the dishes. He wanted to go around the mansion once before Zelretch came back.

* * *

Zelretch was now standing inside Diagon Alley. He had some businesses that needed to be done in order to prepare for Harry/Shirou. It was still early in the morning, so although all the stores had already been opened, there weren't many customers going shopping at this hour.

The old Apostle was now in a very good mood, which was not a surprise. Since yesterday after he successfully took Harry Potter out of the Dursleys' house, Zelretch had been feeling extremely satisfied. Of course the mansion they were currently staying at cost him a fortune. But for someone like Zelretch, money wasn't a problem worth getting worked up about.

But right now, what the old man really needed was a way to retrain Harry/Shirou in magecraft without revealing too much about the Shirou side. It wouldn't be fun unless the boy remembered it himself. Zelretch would gladly give him hints here and there. But there was no chance of him coming out and said "You are actually Shirou Emiya" straight to Harry's face.

However, that wasn't an easy thing to do since Shirou was an unique magus. His trademark skill 'Tracing' could only used by him alone. Therefore, the only way for the boy to be able to use it now was to figure it out again by himself. Despite knowing the theory and the meaning behind the spell, even Zelretch wouldn't be able to recreate it.

_And there's also that 'Unlimited Bladework'... _scratching his head in frustration, Zelretch's mind was now running at full speed. _How do you teach another magus to make a Reality Marble anyway? That's downright impossible._

Shaking his head, the old Apostle finally admitted that there was no other way than wait for Shirou's memories to return by themselves. It was actually a good thing that those strange dreams were starting to appear more and more. Meanwhile, he would do all that he could to train the boy in basic magecraft, Reinforcement, Alteration, Projection, and last but not least - sword fighting skills. Luckily, all of his Magic Circuits were already opened. So now all that Zelretch needed to do was to somehow teach Harry how to activate them, which was a fairly easy task to accomplish.

_We could wait for his unique spells to return as time pass by. Unless something went horribly wrong that it could dramatically change the events that's about to happen, the boy wouldn't need his most powerful skills anytime soon, _thought Zelretch while making his way toward Gringotts - the Wizarding Bank.

Since Harry wouldn't be able to get his own vault key until Dumbledore gave it to him - usually through Hagrid when he picked the boy up from his relatives in some universes, or that professor McGonagall in some others - Zelretch would lend him some money to buy school related stuffs. It was understandable though, the old man was the one who went and got Harry first, so now he would have to find another way to get his hand on the Potters' vault key and gave it to the boy.

In reality, it wasn't a difficult task. After all, if needed, the Apostle Ancestor could just use the Kaleidoscope, teleport himself into Dumbledore's office, swoop the key and get out. Or he could even go further as stealing it from another world to prevent Harry/Shirou from being suspected by the others. But in the end, the old man chose not to mess up another alternate universe just for the sake of this one.

_Now that the boy has gone missing, they will have to send someone to look for him for sure, _a mischievous grin flashed through Zelretch's face. _And when they finally found him, which will be about two months from now, they will have to give him his damn key. Harry's its rightful owner after all._

Stepped up the stair lead into the biggest white marble house in Diagon Alley, the man started to look for his own vault key in his pockets. It wasn't a surprise that Zelretch had one. He had been interested in this Wizarding world for a long time. And based on the recent events and his plans, started with transferring Shirou's mind and soul over to this world, he decided to come here awhile ago to open a bank account and invested some of his money in it. Needless to say, it wasn't a small amount that Zelretch put into the vault.

"Welcome to Gringotts," an old and cruel looking goblin greeted him from behind the nearest counter as he walked through the giant bronze front door. "How may I help you?"

"I would like to visit Zelretch Schweinorg's safety vault," Zelretch answered with a bright smile. "Here's the key."

"Seems appropriate," the goblin nodded after inspecting Zelretch's key carefully. "Very well, Mr. Schweinorg. I will have somebody to escort you to your vault. Griphook!"

Hearing the call, another Goblin came out from the back and started leading Zelretch down to the underground. Personally, the old Apostle found himself enjoying the cart ride every time. But since his vault was a new one, it was located very near to the surface, so the enjoyment didn't last long.

After opening the vault door, the goblin named Griphook stepped aside and let Zelretch in. The old man then looked around. It was still the same as the last time he was here, the room was filled with piles and piles of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Once inside, Zelretch took out a reasonable amount of each, put them into a bag he carried, then returned to the surface together with Griphook.

_That solved the money problem at the moment, _thought the old man as he got out of the bank. _I guess it's time to return. I will take the boy here later in the afternoon to purchase his school supplies. Also, he should've found __**those books**__ by now._

With that in mind, Zelretch activated his Kaleidoscope and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

* * *

After Zelretch left for about fifteen minutes. Harry also finished doing the dishes. And since there wasn't anything left to do, the boy decided that it was time for him to take a tour around the house.

It was a very elegant and spacious mansion, and Harry was very surprised by its size and design. But what made him curious the most was that, why was Zelretch living here all alone? There were so many unused rooms in both East and West Wing. Also, when he circled around the garden, Harry couldn't help but wonder how the old man could take care of all of the plants, flowers and trees which was almost like a small forest on the back yard.

_Well, he knows magic though. It shouldn't be that hard for him if there are magic involved, _dismissed the doubt from his mind, the boy then returned inside. He had found a study room earlier and decided to go there again.

The room was bigger than Harry expected. It had to be three times the size of his bedroom, which wasn't a small one. Aside from a couple of tables that were set near the entrance, the rest of the room were covered by book-filled bookshelves that touched the ceiling.

At the first glance, the boy's impression was that this was also a very dusty and seemed to be unused room. But after looking around more carefully, he finally discovered some books on what looked like a librarian's desk that was placed in a corner that weren't covered by dust.

Taking a peek at those books' title, Harry instantly got interested. They were all about the basic of something called 'magecraft'. Of course, he didn't know what that it mean. However, the strange term made his mind tingle a little, like he was about to remember something very important. It was right in front of him. But no matter how hard Harry tried, he just couldn't reach out and grab that piece of memory.

_I can't do it... _slumped down disappointedly on the chair behind the desk, Harry irritatingly opened the first book that he got his hand on. _Maybe I will be able to remember what it was after reading about this 'magecraft'..._

With that in mind, the boy started to read. But the more he read, the more he found it to be very confusing. Confusing, yet interesting and familiar.

"I know this. I definitely know this." Harry murmured while reading the chapter explaining about the 'Magic Circuits'. He didn't know how all that knowledge got to him. But as the boy read on, he found himself actually be able to guess what the book was about to say before getting to that specific part.

_This is too weird... _Closed the book, Harry sighed as he leaned against the chair. He was now very curious and also a bit terrified about himself and his sudden knowledge about magecraft. _Maybe this is also a part of my 'other memories' that Zelretch mentioned earlier...Who was 'I', really? What kind of life did 'I' have before that led 'myself' to know about all that stuff then got killed so brutally?_

After awhile, the boy stood up. Since he couldn't figure out the source of all this, he decided to set it aside for now. Instead, Harry was going to test what was written inside the book and his mysterious knowledge, to see if they really work.

_Let's see, _he moved to a clear space inside the room. _It was said that in order to activate the Magic Circuits. I would have to focus on the prana inside my body and use a mental image to trigger it...Now I need to find out what's mine..._

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Harry still hadn't made any progress in trying to open his Circuits. While he was able to feel the energy, the boy just couldn't find out what his image was. He had tried many different things that he came up with, like a sword hitting its target (Harry liked swords), or even something as simple as a rock dropped to the ground. There were also a bunch of others that he used as well. But in the end, Harry wasn't able to open these 'veins that transfer prana instead of blood'. And as a matter of fact, the boy was deeply disappointed and upset.

"Have you tried to imagine firing the hammer of a gun?" Zelretch's voice suddenly came from the entrance and made Harry jumped.

"Wha...What?" Startled, the boy turned to the old Apostle Ancestor. "Zelretch, please don't suddenly appear like that," he grimaced, pausing a little to catch his breath, and continued. "What did you just say anyway?"

"I said: Have you tried to imagine firing a hammer of a gun?" Zelretch repeated with a grin.

"You know what I was doing?" Asked Harry with widened eyes.

"Of course," the old man smirked. Then he pointed to the books on the desk. "I was about to show them to you later. But it seems like you found them before I got that chance."

"I see..." Harry nodded. "So you suggest me to use that image as the trigger. Why?"

"Erm..." Zelretch hesitated a little. "Nothing special. That's the common image, you know."

"But in the book, it says that the images are different from person to person," Harry retorted, clearly he wasn't convinced. "And it says nothing about a common image that anyone can use."

"That's right," the old man smiled warmly. "I'm surprised to see you have read that far. But that book, no matter how detailed it is, just tells you the basics. I, on the other hand, have the experiences gathered from many decades of researching and practicing magecraft. It wouldn't be so strange if I know something that the _basic_ books don't cover, would it?"

"You have a point..." Harry shrugged his shoulders. The boy still had his doubt. But it wasn't like he could find a more reasonable answer anyway. "Let me just give it a shot then."

Once again, Harry closed his eyes and focus on the source of the prana inside his body. Then, just as Zelretch suggested, he imagined the image of firing the hammer of a gun.

To the boy's surprise, it actually worked. He could now feel the prana flow all over his Magic Circuits. It was a strange but very familiar sensation.

"It works," opened his eyes and looked down at his own two hands in amazement, Harry smiled happily. "It actually works, Zelretch."

"Told you," the old man laughed joyfully. "Good. Now I can start training you in magecraft before you go to Hogwarts."

"So I can learn more about it at that school?" Harry asked, still feeling excited from his own success.

"No," To the boy's surprise, Zelretch waved his hand. "You will learn about another magic system at Hogwarts. Magecraft is different. Only a few special people can use it."

"I see," he nodded slowly. "But how do we know if someone can use magecraft or not?"

"The condition to use it is that that person must have Magic Circuits," Zelretch explained. "And magecraft is usually passed down between members of a family only, so it's almost impossible to tell if someone is a magus - a magecraft user - or not under normal circumstances. Unless he or she came from a famous bloodline or if they use it somewhere near you, of course."

"So it's like that," Harry looked thoughtfully. "Is there anything else that I need to know?"

"Two more things," the old man nodded. "One: Practicing magecraft is dangerous. It's not without reason that there's the saying 'Being a magus is to walk with death'." He then solemnly looked straight into Harry's eyes. "I will let you know now. This path is not an easy one. You will have to shed sweat and tear, and even blood to practice it. Do you understand?"

Most of the times, those words were more than enough to scare off any normal person. However, Harry Potter wasn't a normal boy, in every senses possible.

"What you just said seemed so familiar to me..." Instead of getting panic or frightened, the boy quietly mumbled. "I get the feeling that I have heard that before. But I can't remember where and when..."

"I understand why all of that confuses you," Zelretch assured him. "But don't worry too much. You have many unsorted memories that even you can't understand, and getting worked up over them isn't helping." The old man then came over and patted Harry's shoulder gently. "Just let time sort them out for you, and I will help you in any way I can, okay?"

"Sure, if you say so," Harry sighed. But then he remembered something else.

"Ehh... What about the second thing that you want to tell me?" The boy asked.

"Oh, right," Zelretch laughed loudly. "And I almost forget about that too. Anyway, as you've already known, the Wizarding World that your parents belong to had to keep themselves hidden from the rest of the world all the way from ancient time. The same go for us. We magus value secrecy as we don't want anyone outside of our world to know about our art's existence. You got what I'm saying?"

"I think I do," Harry nodded. "You want me not to openly use magecraft while I'm at Hogwarts."

"That's not all," the old man said seriously. "Not just at Hogwarts. Be extra careful if you ever have to use magecraft outside of this house."

"I will try my best," replied Harry with a reassuring smile. "For now, shall we go and practice some more?"

"Sure," smiled Zelretch. "Oh, but let's finish it early and go prepare for lunch soon, okay? I will take you to buy your Hogwarts supplies this afternoon."

"Really?" The boy raised an eyebrow. "Where are we going to go? I can't imagine anywhere selling those stuffs that were listed."

"Just wait and see," the old Apostle winked at him as the two of them started making their ways down to the courtyard to continue Harry's training.

* * *

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, Harry found himself and Zelretch standing on a crowded long stone road with many different strange looking shops on both of its sides. The nearest one on his left was selling many kinds of weird tools, and some others had some of the freakiest 'ingredients' that Harry had ever saw. On his other side, the shop there had in stock many types of broom (which he guessed were magic brooms). And there was one huge white building at the end of the road that got most of Harry's attention.

"Where are we, Zelretch," asked the boy as he looked around with a transparent amazement. The two of them were now surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of weirdly dressed and strange looking people. Of course, there were some people who dressed like what you normally see on regular streets. However, the majority of this crowd had put on themselves many kinds of robe and pointy hats in every possible colors, just like a color palette.

"This place is called the Diagon Alley," Zelretch explained. It looked like the old man was also impressed by the scene in front of them. "A Wizarding shopping district."

"So I can buy everything I need for Hogwarts here?" Harry then paused a little, and peeked at the old man. "But is it okay for me to use your money?"

"Yes," Zelretch waved his hand with a gentle smile. "Don't worry about that. I'm just lending you the money until you get your family's vault key back."

"But what if they don't give it back to me?" The boy grimaced worriedly.

"They will have to," the Apostle grinned. "Just as I told you earlier. You are the rightful owner of that key. And believe it or not, your parents left you with a lot of money. So let's not worry about that problem right now."

"Well... If you say so," scratched his head, Harry started walking further into the alley. "So where are we going first?"

"Normally we would go to the bank," Zelretch pointed to the big white house, then he shook the cloth bag that was tied to his robe. The metallic sounds of the coins colliding against the others could be heard from the inside every time it was moved. "But since we've already got the money here, we can skip that. How about buying you some uniforms first?"

"Sounds good," the boy smiled. "How about that...ermm..." he then squinted his eyes, trying to read the sign of what appeared to be a clothes shop, which was a bit down the road on his left side. Really, being a boy with terrible eyesight and only got an old-and-broken pair of glasses as your aid wasn't an easy thing. "... Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions?"

"Good choice," Zelretch patted his shoulder. "You could use some new clothes for sure. Since we have the money, there's no reason for us to go for second hands. Let's go then."

When the two of them reached the clothes shop, the old Apostle let Harry go in alone, while he waited outside since it wasn't really that big of a house. Besides, there were also many other customers inside. There wouldn't be much space left to breath if Zelretch were to come in together with the boy.

"Hello, dear." Right after Harry set one foot into the store, a woman whom he assumed was Madam Malkin came over and greeted him with a honeyed voice. "Another first year here to buy your first uniforms?"

The boy opened his mouth. But before Harry was able to say anything, Madam Malkin had grabbed his arm and literally dragged him onto one of the platforms which was used to try on clothes. Now that he had calmed down a little, Harry finally realized that there was also some sort of strange smell in this shop, which he was sure that it didn't come from perfume, or scented candles. It was a sweet smell, very light, but still visible enough for Harry to notice.

"Raise your arms, dear," the shop owner smiled sweetly, waving her wand with a smooth movement to order the measuring tape to take Harry's measurements.

_That's interesting, _he raised an eyebrow when the tape circled itself around his waist.

After while, Harry finally ran out of interest and looked around the room he was in. It seemed that many other witches and wizards chose this day to take their children to go shopping for Hogwarts' supplies. Right now, on the platform next to his, there was a girl his age with bushy brown hair who was excitedly observing one of Madam Malkin's assistances doing her magic with another tape, while two people who seemed to be her parents wandering around the shop, pointing and discussing about everything they saw with obvious surprise and amazement

"We are done," the shop owner's voice brought Harry's attention back to her. "Here's your new robes. The gentleman over there has already paid for them," she pointed at Zelretch, who was now standing next to the shop's counter, while handing him a brown paper bag. Harry took it, thanked the kind Madam and went to join the Apostle at the entrance. Both of them then walked out of the store and started to decide on where should they go next.

"There's going to be a lot of things to buy," said Zelretch thoughtfully as he looked at the list given to Harry together with his Hogwarts letter. "For now, don't you need a trunk? There are also other necessary tools like the scale or the cauldron too."

"Well, let's get a trunk first then," Harry shrugged. "It's better to have a place to store all the stuffs we are going to buy."

"Actually, you don't have to worry about that," the old man winked mischievously at him. "I will just send the things we are going to buy back home first with my magic. Here, hand me those robes."

Took the bag from Harry's hand, Zelretch then used his mysterious magic and made it vanished instantly.

"There," the old Apostle clapped his hand together. "That's much better."

"Great," mumbled Harry under his breath. "It just gets more and more convenient..." Now he really, really wanted to learn that spell. _I must find a way to convince Zelretch to teach me that._

"What did you just say?" Asked the old man. But he was now busy looking through the list again and didn't seem to care about the answer.

"Nothing," the boy denied immediately. "Let's us go get a trunk, Zelretch."

* * *

About half an hour later, the two of them came rushing out from an apothecary shop, followed by a large number of panicked customers who were also pushing against each other in order to escape the nightmare that was happening inside the house.

"That...was...the most...disgusting smell that...I've...ever...known..," stopped at a corner far away from the store, Harry bent down and started panting like crazy. His face had turned green from running and holding his breath for too long. "I hope that...I would...never have to use...whatever...was in that jar."

The thing was, when Harry and Zelretch were paying for their purchases at the counter, a careless customer bumped into a self nearby, causing one of the jars to fall down and break all over the floor. The problem was the stuff that was stored inside, Harry didn't know what on Earth it was, but the boy was sure that he had no interest whatsoever in finding that out.

Anyway, that unknown ingredient had a freaking horrible rotten smell that no word could fully describe the horror it brought. The smell had then taken over the shop in no time, caused an uproar within the customers.

Luckily, since the two of them had already finished with the payment, and the counter was right next to the door, they immediately held their breath and dashed out of the accident scene as fast as possible.

"Next time...I will wait outside," although not as bad as Harry, Zelretch was also breathing heavily.

"But that guy with in the blue robe...wasn't as lucky as us... though," the old man then started to grin happily. "He got that stuff splashed all over his body." And soon, his grin turned into a playful laughter as he remembered about the unlucky victim. "I think some of it got into his mouth when he screamed. Poor bastard."

Hearing the old man's words made Harry also started laughing so hard that tear flowed out from the corners of his eyes, despite him being out of breath.

"I...I hope that...he's...ok," said the boy while holding his ribs to suppress the laughter. "That stuff is not poisonous, right?" He then asked with a trace of worry mixed into his voice.

"I don't think so. No," Zelretch shook his head, still grinning. "Ahh... That was fun," he sighed satisfyingly. "So, how are we now?"

"Well, let's get this out of our way first," Harry stood straight up and gave Zelretch the ingredient bag they just bought. The old man then once again made it vanish into thin air.

"You still have a wand and the books to buy," Zelretch checked the list once again. "And also a pet. Which one do you want? An owl, or a cat, or a toad?"

"I thought it isn't required to have a pet?" Harry raised his eyebrow. It wasn't that he didn't want a pet. The boy just thought that there was no reason for him to buy something that wasn't mandatory.

"Well, maybe you don't know," the old Apostle explained. "But in the Wizarding World, they used owl to send mails to each other. And a cat is an intelligent partner that could help you in many situations. But the toad..." he hesitated. "In my opinion, they are pretty useless."

_So that's what the letter meant when it said 'await your owl', _thought Harry. Then he looked up at Zelretch. "Well, in that case, maybe having an owl of my own isn't such a bad idea."

"I agree," the old man nodded. "So what do you want to buy first? Books? Wand? Or the owl?"

"Let's go for the wand then. I've been wondering what it's like." Harry then pointed to the shop right on the other side of the street. It was an old small shop, with a single wand placed on a pillow inside the window. The peeled golden letters on its sign said: Olivanders: Maker of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

The boy then crossed the street and entered the shop together with Zelretch. Once inside, he took a quick look around the place. It was mostly empty, with only a chair in a corner, a counter deep inside the room, and thousands of narrow boxes ran along the wall, piled right up to the ceiling. The whole place seemed like it was being covered by a thin layer of dust.

Suddenly, an overwhelming mixed smell forcefully invaded Harry's nose. It made the boy feel dizzy as he quickly stumbled over the chair and threw himself onto it.

"What's wrong Harry?" Zelretch asked worriedly seeing his strange actions. "Are you feeling sick?"

"I don't know," shut his eyes tightly, the boy could now feel a terrible headache started to appear that made him want to vomit. "That smell... It makes my head hurt. I can't stand it anymore..."

"Smell...?" The old man looked at him confusedly for awhile. Then as if remembering something, he clapped his hands, then quickly kneeled down and whisper into Harry's ear. "I know what's happening. Now just do what I tell you to. First, activate your Magic Circuits like you did in our practice this morning. Then try to calm yourself down, focus and take deep breaths. You will get used to the smell and your headache should go away soon."

Of course, Harry had no idea how would doing that help. But he listened to Zelretch and focused on the prana inside his body. Then as soon as he clicked his mental trigger, the boy could once again feel the energy flowing all over his Circuits.

After that, Harry took a deep breath. And he was surprised to see that the incoming headache had started to fade. The strange smell was still there, but now it wasn't as strong as before and actually became bearable.

Sighed in relief, he stood up and looked at Zelretch and said gratefully. "Thank you. That really worked. So exactly what was just happened?"

"Now is not a good time," whispered the old man as he gave Harry a meaningful wink. "I will explain for you when we get home. For now, just keep your Magic Circuits active until we get out of here."

Understood the hidden meaning behind Zelretch words that his earlier condition was related to magecraft, the boy nodded obediently.

...

"Welcome, Mr. Potter," a soft voice suddenly startled Harry, made him almost jumped back.

"Umm... Who's there?" Trying to calm himself down, the boy asked hesitantly.

Then from deep inside the shop came out an old man with white messy hair. He looked almost as old as Zelretch, but the air that the two of them gave off were clearly different. While Zelretch appeared to be a powerful, cool and humorous person, Harry's first impression of the stranger whom he assumed as Olivander was that he had a very mysterious and somewhat abnormal aura surrounds himself.

"I'm Olivander, the owner of this shop," he answered slowly as his pale silver eyes locked onto Harry's. "I've been expecting to see you soon. Not this soon, of course. But welcome back, Mr. Potter. May I ask who your companion is?" He then turned his curious gaze to Zelretch.

"I'm Zelretch Schweinorg, Harry's temporary guardian," the old man bowed slightly.

"Guardian...I see," slightly nodded his head, Olivander then turned his attention back to Harry. "It's a honor to meet you, Mr. Potter. I still remember the day your parents walked through that door and bought their first wands... "

Harry silently looked back at Olivander. He didn't know how to reply since he had no memory of his parents. How they looked, or even the sound of their voices, they all came up blank in his mind.

"Great people, but passed away too soon," sadly shook his head and sighed, the shop owner then quickly regained his mysterious self and took out a measuring tape from his pocket. "Now tell me, Mr. Potter. What's your dominant arm?"

"I'm ambidextrous," Harry said immediately which made Olivander raised his eyebrow and Zelretch grinned mysteriously.

"That's...a very rare talent, indeed," after awhile, the shop owner murmured as he started ordering the tape to take Harry's measurements of both arms from his shoulders to his fingertips. "Very well. Please wait here for awhile. I will return with some wands so we can see which one suits you the best."

As soon as the man turned away, the tape dropped itself to the ground.

"What do you think of this Olivander, Harry?" Whispered Zelretch after the shop owner disappeared from sight.

"I don't know for sure..." Harry hesitated. "But I don't think I like him very much. He looks like he's hiding something," he said thoughtfully. "How about you?"

"Me?" The Apostle laughed. "Personally, I find the man to be very interesting."

"If you say so," the boy shrugged, then returned to his earlier task of observing around the store.

"Listen," Zelretch started again. "This is a good chance to practice the spell we practiced this morning."

"Structure Analysis?" Asked Harry without looking at him.

"Yes," the old man nodded. "Later, when Olivander comes back, use that on every single wand that he gives you. If I'm not wrong, there will be two different wands that's suitable for you, and one of them should have a Phoenix feather as the core," he then threw Harry a look of _'I'm gonna tell you later'_ when the boy opened his mouth.

"Anyway," Zelretch continued. "When a wand reacts to you, you will feel a burst of prana trying to come out through it, and it's bound to create some kind of magical effect. If it's the Phoenix one, just let it out. Otherwise, control your flow of prana to prevent that. I will know when that's the case, so you don't need to tell me. And we are gonna buy both of them afterward. But be careful not to let Olivander know about that."

_Why is that? _Harry was about to ask. But then he immediately understood what the old man was implying when he wanted to keep secret and silently nodded.

"But what if the Phoenix comes first?" Instead, he voiced another question. "If that's the case, we can't try out the others anymore, right?"

"Precisely," to the boy's surprise, Zelretch started smirking. "But Olivander surely isn't going to give you that one right of the bat, so don't worry."

Before Harry could ask anymore question, Olivander's voice came back and interrupted him.

"Alright, come closer and try out these, Mr. Potter," the man finally reappeared, carrying a dozen of boxes and put them all on the counter.

"You own me a lot of explanations, Zelretch," murmured Harry through his teeth.

"You got it," Zelretch smiled as the two of them made their way to where Olivander was.

"Here, take this one and wave it once," the shop owner immediately took a wand out of the box and gave it to Harry as soon as he and Zelretch reached the counter. "Dragon Heartstring and Ebony wood, not very easy to control but very powerful."

Held the wand in his hand, Harry did as Zelretch instructed and used 'Structure Analysis'. Naturally, every aspect of it appeared inside his mind like a blueprint. But there was nothing like a burst of prana.

The boy then waved it around, unsurprised about the fact that nothing happened, and returned the wand to Olivander.

"Don't worry," the man waved his hand hastily as he gave Harry another one. "Here, try this instead. Unicorn Hair and Walnut, not as powerful, but very loyal and easy to control."

Once again, nothing happened when the boy gave it a try. The test then continued for about fifteen minutes with no notable result. Except for some occasions that Harry could feel a tingle from his prana, but not a strong burst. Nevertheless, he stopped it from creating any effect as he had been told. But the boy doubted that was what Zelretch told him about.

Finally, after the pile of unsuitable wands on the counter had reached a noticeable height, Harry was given a wand made from Ash wood with Unicorn hair as the core. As soon as he touched it, the boy suddenly felt a strong surge of prana from his body heading toward the tip of the wand. Startled, he then immediately focused and stopped his energy flow right before it was able to go any further than his forearm.

Took a glance at Zelretch, who was now standing next to him, and received a slight nod. Harry carefully placed the wand back onto the counter, purposely put it a bit away from the others.

It took the three of them ten more minutes and dozens more of wands until Olivander finally decided to give Harry the Phoenix one. Just like with the Unicorn wand earlier, his prana once again burst out strongly. But this time, Harry didn't try to control it. And from its tip shoot out a string of colorful sparkles that lit up the entire dusty shop.

"Ohhh... How wonderful. Very strange, but wonderful," clapped his hands happily, Olivander beamed up brightly,

"What's strange about this, Mr. Olivander?" Harry cocked his head to the side, not really understood what made the man so happy.

"Because the wand you are holding, and the wand that unfortunately left you with that scar on your forehead, used two feathers of the same Phoenix, Mr. Potter. They are brothers." said the man while wiping away his tear of joy.

"So the wand that Voldermort used had the same core as this one?" The boy's jaw dropped as he stared at the wand in his hand.

"I would prefer it if you didn't say that name out loud," Olivander trembled from hearing the name of the Dark Lord. But he quickly smiled happily again. "But it's true. It's such a miracle."

_So that's why this one reacted to me. It's because of my scar, _Harry silently noted. _So does that mean the one earlier is my true wand? I should confirm it with Zelretch later to see if that's the case._

"We will take this one then," next to him, Zelretch told the shop owner. "But before that, may I also purchase one? I accidentally broke mine yesterday."

_He tells lies like that in front of a ten years old child without even batting an eye, _Harry sighed, seeing what the old Apostle was doing.

"Of course, Mr. Schweinorg," Olivander answered politely and pointed to the pile of wands that was tested by Harry earlier. "Please try out these and find the one that's most suitable for you."

Zelretch then took his time and spent another ten minutes waving many different wands around with obvious joy on his face before getting to the one that Harry set aside earlier. The old man picked that one up and drew a circle in the air with it, caused its tip to light up so brightly that it almost blinded the boy.

"I guess it's this one?" Asked the Apostle with a fake curiosity as he handed the wand back to Olivander.

"It seems so," the shop owner nodded. "This wand has the strongest reaction after all. So you will be taking this and the Phoenix one? It will be a total of fourteen Galleons."

"Here you go," Zelretch took the money out of the bag and gave it to Olivander. "Thank you very much."

The two of them then waited for the shop owner as he went and rewrap the two wands into their boxes.

"Thank you for your patronage," Olivander bowed politely as Harry and Zelretch walked out to the entrance.

"So that one really also reacted to you?" The boy looked at Zelretch as soon as the store's door closed behind them.

"Of course not," the old man grinned mischievously. "I forced my prana through it to produce that effect. That way we could buy it without raising Olivander's suspicion."

"I see," Harry nodded understandingly. "So was there any wand that really reacted to you?"

"Who knows," Zelretch laughed happily hearing the question. "After all, I don't need a wand to be able to use magic."

"I guess that's true," the boy shrugged slightly. But then he suddenly noticed something. "Wait a minute. Given what you said earlier, could it be that Olivander actually knew that the Phoenix wand would definitely react to me? That's why you told me that he wouldn't give me that one right of the bat."

"Good observant, Harry," Zelretch patted his back. "You are right. Olivander wanted it to looks natural. That's why he waited that long before taking it out."

"That sly old man," the boy sighed. "Why did he have to do that?"

"I'm sorry. I have no idea," said the old Apostle, which made Harry's eyes widened in surprise. It's rare to see Zelretch admitting that he didn't know something.

"So there's actually something you don't know about, eh?" The boy grinned mockingly. "It's okay then. I don't blame you for that. How about we go and buy an owl now? The books can wait until later."

"If that's what you want," answered the Apostle while shrugging his shoulders.

The two of them then walked to a shop called 'Eeylops Owl Emporium'. The place was filled with the sounds of wings flapping around and owls' hoots. Then about twenty minutes later, Harry walked out of the store, holding a cage with a snow white owl who was now sleeping soundly under her wing. The boy had decided named her 'Lily', as it was the first good female name that appeared to him.

"So now all that left is the bookstore," said Zelretch happily after he sent Lily home together with all of their earlier purchases.

"Let's get this over with then," Harry nodded and headed together with the old man to the last destination of their trip - the bookstore 'Flourish and Blotts'.

* * *

"So you are saying that it was my fault, you filthy Muggle?" An unpleasant voice in a clear mocking tone greeted Harry and Zelretch when they stepped through the entrance of 'Flourish and Blotts'. Even though he couldn't see the speaker clearly, Harry could guess that it belonged to a young boy around his age.

"I didn't say that," this time it was a girl's voice. "But yeah, it was your fault for not paying attention to where you are going."

After getting closer, Harry realized that was the girl he saw earlier in Madam Malkin's. She was currently arguing with a blond boy with pale skin. It looked like they bumped into each other and fell, as there were many books scattered all over the floor around them.

"Ehh... Zelretch," he whispered. "What does 'Muggle' mean?"

"That's how the people of the Wizarding World called everyone whose parents aren't wizards or witches," the old man whispered back. "And for some wizards that come from pure magic bloodlines, a Muggle is something they deeply despised. In their opinions, someone like that is below them and isn't worthy of wielding magic. Luckily, not all wizards think like that though."

"You...," the blond's face had already turned into an ugly red color from hearing what the girl said. "You bumped into me and now you are blaming me for it," he then pulled out a wand from his pocket and pointed it at the girl. "Your disrespect for someone like me is unforgivable. I'll have to teach you a lesson."

Seeing the object in his hand made the girl paled and look a bit scared. However, she didn't retreat even just one step, and continued to give the boy challenging glares.

At that moment, Harry decided that he couldn't just stand and watch anymore. He didn't know either of them, or who was originally at fault. But from the looks of it, the blond boy might really do it and hurt the girl.

"Stop!" He shouted and stepped in between the two strangers.

"Who are you?" The other boy squinted his eyes and asked irritatingly from being interrupted. "That doesn't matter. ? If you try to interfere, I will just curse both of you."

"And violate the rule of young wizards not being allowed to use magic outside of school?" Harry's voice had turned icy cold as he glared at the blond with a threatening expression.

"Ha!" To his surprise, the boy just snorted mockingly. "That only applied for _trained_ young wizards," he then raised his wand once again. "Besides, if there's anything go wrong, my father will get me out of it easily."

"Daddy's boy, eh?" Harry smirked, trying to keep his face to remain a calm expression, despite the uncertain feeling he was getting. Sweats started to form on his forehead as he realized the current situation. The other boy had his wand out, and from the look of it, he wouldn't be afraid to use it. Harry himself on the other hand was unarmed, he also didn't have outstanding physique to be able to overwhelm his opponent.

_But in any case, I can't let him bully the girl behind me. Not when I'm here, _thought Harry as he raised his fists, prepared for whatever the other boy could throw at him.

"Barbarian fighting," his opponent smirked. "Another Muggle huh? Then why don't I teach both of you a lesson about respect for the..."

Before the blond could finish his speech, Harry lowered his body and dashed toward him as his only chance in this fight is to get the other by surprise. Seeing his sudden action, the boy paled and hastily tried to aim his wand at Harry.

"All of you, stop!" A voice came from within the crowd made both Harry and his opponent froze. Taking a look at the direction of the speaker, Harry saw standing there an adult man with long blond hair, grey hair with the same pale skin tone as the other boy. The way he dressed showed that he came from an aristocrat family.

_Must be the father, _Harry stood up straight and regained his composure.

However, the newcomer completely ignore him and the girl as he walked straight to his son.

"Draco! What are you doing?" He scolded the boy coldly.

"Father...Those two provoked me..." pointed at them, he hastily making excuses. "That Muggle girl bumped into me and then blamed me for it. The other just came out of nowhere and threatened me..."

"That's enough," the man took an uninterested look at Harry and the girl, then interrupted his son. "Draco, us Malfoys don't deal with _that_ kind of people. There's no reason for us to dirty our hands like that. Let's go."

He then took the boy's hand and dragged him out of the shop. When they went pass Harry, the blond murmured quietly but enough for Harry to hear.

"You are lucky. Next time it won't be this easy."

"Can't wait," he grunted back and turned to look at the girl. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you for standing up for me," she smiled, then looked down to all the books on the floor. "Erm... can you please help me with these? I was bringing them to the counter before that boy bumped into me."

"Sure. I'm glad that you are okay," Harry nodded, and followed her eyes to see at least twenty thick books lying around. "You were gonna buy all this? I thought some of them belong to the blond," he raised his eyebrow, crouching down and started picking them up.

"No, no, they are all mine," the girl looked up at him and smiled happily. "I enjoy reading. I've already bought all the school books the last time I was here. But there were a lot of others as well. In the end, it became too heavy so we had to come back home first, then returned today to buy everything else."

"Wow," said Harry, clearly impressed. "That's good. I guess."

* * *

After the two of them were done paying for the books, they stepped outside and put them down next to the girl.

"Thank you again," she said while holding her hand out to him. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"I'm Harry Potter," he shook that hand and bowed slightly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Really? You are Harry Potter?" Hearing his words, Hermione froze. Her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened. Then she beamed up brightly and kept shaking his hand with even more enthusiasm than before. "I can't believe I really get to meet you. I've read all about what you did to 'You-know-who'."

"Eh..." Being caught by surprise, Harry scratched his head and felt that his face had gotten a bit hotter. "You know about me?" He then realized that was a stupid question.

"Of course," she grabbed his hand even tighter. "Who in this world doesn't know about 'The-boy-who-lived'? Eh...by 'this world' I meant the Wizarding World though."

"Hermione." Hearing the voice, Harry turned to see the couple he saw in the clothes shop together with the girl earlier.

"Mum, Dad," Hermione waved happily when she saw them. "I'm all done buying the books."

"We are finished with the ingredients too," the man nodded. "Seriously, that place smells like a garbage can. It wasn't like that the last time we came though. I wonder what happened."

Hearing his complain made Harry remembered the earlier incident at the Apothecary, and the boy had to turned away quickly to hide the laughter that was gonna burst out.

"And who is this little man?" Mr. Granger raised his eyebrow as he finally realized that a boy had been standing there.

"Ah, dad. This is Harry Potter," Hermione happily grabbed his hand again. "He helped me out with a bully in the shop earlier."

"What?" The man's eyes opened wide. "You were bullied? Who? Who did it?"

"Calm down, dear," Mrs. Granger gently placed her hand on her husband's back. "She's fine, isn't she. That kind boy helped her. And whoever did it, they must've gone away from here already."

Then she turned to Harry, leaving the man who was still not completely convinced. "Thank you, Harry, isn't it." She smiled sweetly. "It's rare to see our daughter get along so nicely with someone her age. Please be good friend with her, will you?"

"Of course, Mrs. Granger," Harry smiled back. He didn't know much about Hermione and her family. But from the look of it, they weren't bad people. Also, it's good thing, since until this day Harry himself hadn't got anyone his age that he could call 'friend' either.

"What a good boy," said Mrs. Granger as she and her husband came over and picked up the books that their daughter bought. "We got to go now. We hope to see you again soon, Harry. Isn't that right, dear?" She then threw a glance at the man who appeared to still be sulking and pinched his arm.

"Oww... What was that for?" He retorted, but immediately backed away after seeing his wife's glare. "Ah...Right, see you again, umm..."

"Harry Potter sir," Harry grinned. He was obviously amused by this family. The boy himself hadn't seen any kind of family affection like that. Suddenly, he found himself getting a bit jealous of Hermione but quickly dismissed that thought.

"Bye bye, Harry," the girl waved at him while following her parents. "We will see each other again, right?"

"Absolutely," Harry also waved with an assuring smile. "Goodbye, Hermione."

"A good girl eh? And that family aren't so bad either." Right after the Grangers vanished from sight, Zelretch suddenly appeared from nowhere and patter the boy's shoulder, making him jumped in surprise.

"Zelretch!" He growled, glaring at the old man. "I told you not to do that."

"I'm sorry," he laughed happily. "But it's so funny."

"Not to me," Harry murmured angrily. But then he sighed, decided to drop the subject since it was Zelretch they were talking about. The old man would do anything he wanted for his own entertainment.

"So where were you when I was about to get cursed?" Instead, he scolded the old Apostle.

"Well, it was interesting. And I wanted to see how you would handle that spoiled kid, so I decided not to interfere. Too bad, you guys were still interrupted," he laughed again, but quickly waved his hand when he saw Harry's furious look. "But hey, you didn't get cursed, right?"

"But I could've been!" Harry gritted his teeth.

"Trust me," Zelretch patted the boy's back. "If there was any chance of that happening, I would've jumped in immediately. And from what I saw, I'm very proud of you, Harry. You are a brave boy. Not everyone would choose to go against a wand with bare hands like you did."

"I can't even tell if you are complimenting or mocking me anymore," Harry sighed again in resignation. But in his mind, the boy was happy to hear Zelretch's words. Getting another's acceptance wasn't something he used to.

"For now, let's go home, shall we," the Apostle clapped his hands together.

"Sure," the boy finally looked up, smiled. "We are already done here anyway."

With that, he felt Zelretch's hand placed on his shoulder. The entire Diagon Alley then immediately became blurry in front of his eyes.

* * *

_"When I grow up, I want to become a hero to save people. Just like you, father." said Harry in a voice not of his own. He was now sitting on the balcony that lead to a big yard of what looked like a traditional Japanese house that he had only seen on television._

_"That's wonderful," a man's voice answered him. "But believe me, ******. There's no true Hero in this world."_

_Harry then turned over to see that the one who he just called 'father' was the same man he saw in the fire dream the night before._

What did he just call me? _The boy wondered. _I couldn't hear it at all.

_"That's not true," he heard himself talking again. "You are my Hero, father." Harry said solemnly._

_"Thank you," the man turned over and gave him a tired, but gentle smile. "I'm happy. But one day, you will understand that me too, isn't a Hero. I can't save everybody, so no. I'm not deserve to be called that."_

_"Don't worry, father." Stood up, Harry said cheerfully. "I will do your share of work too. I will save everybody. Now that you promised to teach me magecraft, I will be able to do it for sure."_

_The word 'magecraft' seemed to upset the man as his face twitched uncomfortably from hearing what the boy said. He then looked straight into Harry's eyes._

_"I regret promising you that," he said in a voice that was both sad and serious at the same time. "But are you sure, ******? That isn't an easy path. You may have to shed sweat, tear, and even blood to follow down that road. After all, being a magus is to walk with death. And I really don't want to see you destroy yourself if something ever happened..."_

_"It's okay," the boy beamed up. "I'm aware of that, and I will be extra careful too."_

* * *

_The scene then faded and reformed after a few second. But this time, Harry found himself sitting inside a bedroom in front of a beautiful girl in red, long sleeved turtleneck, short black skirt accompanied by long black socks. Her wavy long black hair was tied to both sides of her head into a twin tails also with black ribbons._

_"No, ****** you idiot," she scolded him with a scary glare on her face. "That's not how you do it. Why do you try creating another Circuit after what I've told you?"_

Again, _Harry was irritated. _What the hell did these people just call me?

_"I'm trying, Rin." He heard himself retorted. "I'm just testing out to see if that image was the trigger."_

_"How could trying to insert a hot steel bar into your nerve be a mental trigger?" The girl named Rin grunted angrily. "Do you want to die?"_

_"How's that different from imagining a knife stabbing your own heart anyway," the boy murmured without looking at her._

_The girl's face flushed up quickly, she then started to smile. And for the first time in his life, Harry got to see a smile that got that much killing intent behind it._

_"What did you just say, *****-kun? Rin walked slowly toward him with that scary smile stuck to her face._

_"No, no, nothing at all," frightened, Harry frantically waved his hands. "I...I was wrong, okay? Just let me try again."_

_"Fine," finally dropped that smile, Rin sighed (so was Harry). "Do it properly."_

_After that, either of them said anything to each other. The silence went on for almost two hours. During that period, Harry realized that what he was trying to do was actually a very familiar act - activating the Magic Circuits._

_"I did it, Rin," finally he spoke up. Of course he was telling the truth. Harry could now feel the familiar sensation of prana flow all over his Circuits. But somehow, the power of the flow this time was noticeably weaker than what he used to._

_"Finally," the girl smiled tiredly. "Good job, ******."_

* * *

Harry's eyes shoot open, he once again found himself lying on his bed at Zelretch's mansion.

Slowly sat up, the boy looked at the clock on the table next to the bed.

_Three in the morning, _he sighed. It was still too soon to wake Zelretch up to talk about the dream.

Threw himself back down, Harry started to remember about what he had just seen and heard. For the first time in a long time, he didn't see a nightmare. That made him sighed in relief.

_So that man was my 'father', _he thought. _And he told me about all that magus stuffs. No wonder I had the feeling that I've already heard those words when Zelretch said them yesterday._

_And that girl was the one who taught me how to opened my Circuits for the first time, _Harry then turned to lie on his side. _Maybe that's why I could guess that book's content and felt so familiar with the activating progress. I really want to know what my previous image trigger was though. I didn't get to see it in the dream._

_My 'other' name... _the boy then remembered and started to get irritated again. _What is it? I was sure that they said it at least three times. But I couldn't hear it at all..._

Took a deep breath to calm himself down, Harry then closed his eyes hoping to get back to sleep. For now, those dreams could wait. Just a few more hours, when Zelretch woke up, he would go to see the old man and find out all about them.

**End of Chapter 2.**


	3. Chapter 3: Last Day At Home

**Author's note: **

**Chapter 3 is out. Once again I'm very grateful for all of my readers and reviewers for their thoughts, opinions and ideas.**

**While most of them already received a reply via PM, there were some guest reviews that suggest me to make Hermione Rin. My opinion is that, while it's indeed an interesting idea to think about, I just can't see the two's personalities fit together. Hermione is kind of nerdy smart, she believes in her books and professors. Rin on the other hand, is a magus, therefore more open-minded to practical experiments and myths, not to mention cunning and experienced.**

**I will still think about it though. Just don't put too much hope into that idea.**

**Also, in this fic, Harry's abilities are limited to adult Shirou's (since it's Shirou's soul in his body), maybe with a bit of extend on my part. But he won't get many cool and super useful buffs and skills like in other fics (scan books for their contents for example, he may make a habit out of doing so, but only for practice's sake). While I enjoy reading those stories, I don't like my character to have many overwhelming advantages over Wizarding World's residents. Which is also why you will see Harry's magic skills progress quite slowly. Seven years is a long time after all. But please tell me if you think it's going **_**too**_** slowly. After all, all opinions are appreciated.**

**That's all for now. Please enjoy.**

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was now sitting in his office. Even though it was still summer holiday, the Hogwarts Headmaster had no reason to leave the school compound.

That didn't mean that he was free and was just enjoying his days off though. Right now for example, he was behind his desk, fingers crossed and was currently wear a worrying face that other people rarely see on the wise old wizard.

The reason for that face was no other than the Potters' missing little boy.

Due to the spell that was casted on the Hogwarts acceptant letters that were sent to every Britain magical children, Dumbledore had been informed that Harry Potter had already received his letter, and it was the boy himself who opened the envelope. At that point, the Headmaster had been able to relax for awhile knowing that his plan was on the right track.

However, yesterday, on Harry's birthday, when he sent Rubert Hagrid over to number four Privet Drive to pick up the boy, since he didn't trust the Dursleys to be able to take him to go shopping for Hogwarts supplies. The trusted half-giant later came back and gave him a terrifying news.

_"Professor Dumbledore, I have bad news. The Dursley said that Harry's no longer there. He left about a week ago with someone named Zelretch. They also said that they didn't know where the two of them went to after that."_

That was what Hagrid said.

Needless to say, after hearing the man's words, Dumbledore had found himself sitting dumbfounded for several minutes in shock before he could regain his self control and dismiss Hagrid.

Rubbing his forehead trying to ease the incoming throbbing pain, the old wizard then took a big sip from his mug of hot cocoa that the house elf brought in earlier.

To be honest, after receiving the news, Dumbledore had seriously considered to take a visit to the Dursleys' house and give them a piece of his mind. Luckily, he managed to keep calm and banish the unnecessary thoughts out of his head. He had to admit that the Pensive had helped him big time though. The old little magical tool had always been a good assistance in those kinds of task.

However, until this moment, Dumbledore still couldn't figure out what on Earth made the Dursleys - especially Petunia - to decide to let the boy go with a complete stranger. Didn't he clearly explain to them in his letter just how dangerous it is to let Harry out of their care?

Suddenly, two gentle knocks on his office door interrupted the Headmaster's train of thoughts.

"Come in, please," he called, looking up.

The large wooded door in front of the old wizard opened, and from outside came in an old but very serious looking witch dressed in deep green long robe and a matching pointy hat. She was Minerva McGongall, Hogwarts' Deputy Headmistress, a strong willed woman whose loyalty absolutely belong to the school and to Dumbledore himself. As a matter of fact, she had never ever once questioned his decisions before.

"You called me, Headmaster?" McGongall asked as soon as she entered the room with a puzzled expression.

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore smiled brightly. "I'm sorry for dragging you out of your vacation, Professor McGongall. But we have an emergency. And you surely can understand that I can trust no one but you."

"You are always welcome," fixed her glasses, the woman answered with her head held high. "So what's the problem?"

"Please sit down first, my dear Headmistress," Dumbledore politely pointed to one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. He then continue after McGongall had sat down properly.

"The Potters' son, Harry," looking down at his crossed fingers, the old wizard solemnly informed her. "He had gone missing since about one week ago. Yesterday I asked Hagrid to pick the boy up from his relatives' house but he was no longer there. They said someone called Zelretch came and brought him away."

"Wha...," quickly brought her hand up her mouth to conceal a surprise gasp, McGongall then leaned ahead. "How could he...I mean how could the Dursleys do that? You left them a letter that explained everything about the boy's situation. I saw it with my own two eyes..."

"I know, Professor. I know...," waved his hand slowly to calm her down, Dumbledore said. "I've been wondering about that too. But what's done is done. The problem right now is to find out where the Potters' boy went to," he then looked up into her eyes. "That's why I called you here. Please go check at the Leaky Cauldron and every possible wizards and witches' house for Harry's possible whereabouts. But be careful not to let the others know about what you are doing. I'll also go and look up for the man named Zelretch. It sounds like a foreign name though, so it won't be easy to find."

"You can count on me," stood straight up proudly, McGongall fixed her glasses once again and told the Headmaster with an unshakable confidence. "I will go and return as soon as I find out something."

She then turned around and quickly walked out of the office.

"Good luck, Professor," said the old wizard. "I'll be waiting for you good news."

Turned her head around and gave him a slight nod, she then finally got out and closed the door behind her back.

* * *

Zelretch was now wandering inside the study room of his newly purchased mansion. The old table clock on the desk told him that it was now midnight.

"Another boring folktale," tossed another book aside, the Apostle sighed. He had been spending the last few hours after dinner to look through the books that came with the house when he bought it. As expected of the previous owner, who was a normal local wealthy man, what he had inside his study room were nothing but mundane folklores, science books, newspapers and some kinds of fictional stories that human used to entertain themselves or pass the time with.

"What should I do with these?" he murmured while looking down at his hands which were now holding two rather thick books. One was the English - Japanese dictionary and the other was named 'One Hundred Recipes For A Stunning Family Dinner'.

"Guess the boy would like this," with a small chuckle, Zelretch then threw the dictionary into the books pile that he was about to dispose of later, which was almost as tall as himself, and put the other one back onto the self.

_Speaking of which, I wonder if the boy has been getting anymore of those dreams,_ thought the old man as he moved on to the next self. It had been a week since Harry dreamed about Kiritsugu and Rin Tohsaka. After that, it was nothing but a repeating circle of the fire dream and the other one about Shirou's first time seeing a Servants' battle. Thanks to them, the boy's mental and physical condition had been gradually getting drained due to the lack of sleep and the now-almost-constant throbbing pain sensation of his heart. Though it wasn't critical, it had started to cause Harry to be losing his focus, which was a very dangerous thing while practicing magecraft.

_Maybe a dreamless sleeping potion would help?_ Wondered Zelretch as he remembered about a popular potion of the Wizarding World. _Maybe I should take another trip to Diagon Alley later to see if they're selling that stuff. Ugh... that Apothecary though, I hope that they had already clean out all of that horrible smell from last time..._

However, even if the potion worked, it should still take some days for Harry to be able to recover completely. In the meantime, Zelretch had planned to shift the boy's focus to the basics of this world's magic by using all of the school books that they bought. Maybe with the addition of some useful small curses and Shield Charm, which were some fairly complex spells that he didn't expect Harry to be able to cast them at full power until some point around the middle his second year.

Of course, that didn't discourage Zelretch even a tiny bit. Especially when the old Apostle had already got something else to entertain himself with.

_Shirou Emiya had trained himself to death to become a perfect ambidextrous,_ he grinned satisfyingly. _How lucky it was for that amazing trait to be fully transferred over to his current body from the time he was just a child. That gift, plus the prana control trainings had made the boy a perfect user of the dual-wand style._

The simplest explanation for the fact that nobody in the Wizarding World used two wands at the same time was because of the complexity of the hands and arms movements when casting spells, which took a huge amount of practice for the non-dominant arm to be able to perform them flawlessly. But the real reason behind it all was that they all lacked control over their own energy flow. Usually, when a wizard or a witch used a wand to cast spells, they just allowed it to create some kind of temporary path that let their prana to shoot from the magic cores inside of their bodies to the tip of the wand with the only little control they had over it was to determine how powerful the spell should be. That being the case, even if they held two wands, one in each hand at the same time, those wizards or witches wouldn't be able to change the prana flow from one hand to the other when needed.

Of course, some might have already figured out just where their problem lied. But without the presence of some Magic Circuits within their soul, it became much, much more harder to practice prana flow changing. It wasn't to say that they wouldn't be able to use dual-wand style though. However, they would have to practice many more times harder than a magus normally did. Naturally, instead of spending a ridiculous high price in order to get the advantage of a nearly double casting speed, or the ability to cast offensive spells while properly defending themselves, it would be much more of a sensible choice to invest all that time and effort into practicing new spells and making their own magic and skills more powerful.

_Seeing who he was, maybe Transfiguration and Charms spells will suit Harry better than Curses,_ Zelretch silently noted as he cleared out the last book of that self. _But it never hurt to know some of them, just in case he ever needed it._

Took another look at the clock, the old man realized that it was now two in the morning.

_Look at how late it's getting,_ he sighed. _Time really flies when you are too focused in something eh?_

Finally accepted the fact that he won't be able to complete this half of the room within the night, Zelretch decided that it was time to go to bed. Of course, sleep was something unimportant to an Ancestor Apostle like him. But it was still a short period where he can truly be relaxed.

After activating the Kaleidoscope to send the giant pile of useless books to a random empty alternate universe, the old man got out of the study room and closed the door behind him.

* * *

About two months later.

"This is hard Zelretch. I can't focus on making the movements while shifting the prana flow," grunted Harry trying to keep up the Shield Charm produced by the Phoenix wand in his right hand while making the arm movement for the Stinging Hex using the Unicorn wand in his left. However, even before he finished casting the second spell, the energy shield in front of him had collapsed completely.

"Okay. That's enough," said Zelretch as he walked over from a wooden bench nearby. "We will take a break now."

Exhausted, Harry slumped down right where he was standing. He and the old man had been out at the yard for hours for their daily practice. And as usual, Zelretch had gone to his favorite place to sit down while observing the boy's progress.

"Good job, Harry. You shouldn't sit down right after practicing though," patted his shoulder gently, the old man then pulled Harry up and gave him a bottle of water. "Don't be discouraged. The fact that you successfully manifested the shield alone is more than praiseworthy already, even if it's still an uncompleted version. You would be surprised to know just how many adult wizards and witches that aren't able to do what you - an eleven years old - just did."

"Even so...," Harry looked down while biting his lower lip. "I've been practicing the same spells for almost two months. The biggest accomplishment that I got was being able to cast the Shield Charm and the Stinging Hex separately. Everything else is just..., he hesitated. "...I don't know. They just aren't progressing as fast as I expected."

"You are setting the bar too high, Harry," Zelretch gave him a serious glance. "I can understand your desire to become better. But right now, you should accept what you can do and what you can't," he then smiled encouragingly. "The hex I taught you was something that isn't taught in Hogwarts until at least second year, maybe even higher. The other one isn't even in their course, and was meant for intermediate-level wizards' use. You are able to use them both within two months. Honestly, even I can't ask of you anymore than that."

"Maybe you are right...," the boy nodded after emptying the entire bottle that Zelretch gave him. "But the problem on the side of magecraft is still there though. It's really hard to focus on so many things at once when I'm shifting the prana flow."

"That's a matter of practicing," answered the old Apostle. "You have just stepped in the world of magecraft for two months, so don't be hasty. It takes a great deal of time and effort to be able to do that without trying too hard. And you are still so young too. So don't let that trouble you."

Paused a little, Zelretch then looked at Harry with thoughtful eyes. "You know, I've never asked you this before. But why did you agree to all this training? You can see it already, right? Both the magic and the magecraft that you are learning are combat oriented. So I'm just wondering..."

"If I would abuse its power for meaningless fights and finally become a bully?" Harry asked jokingly. "No, Zelretch, I won't," he then gave the old man a reassuring smile. "There are several reasons that I can tell you though. You see, whatever kind of life my 'previous self' had, he had been involved in magecraft and finally get killed as I had already seen in my dream. Therefore, now that I'm also starting to learn about that art, I should prepare myself just in case of me getting into the same situation."

"Then why didn't you just refuse to get involved from the start?" The old Apostle raised his eyebrow.

"To be honest, I didn't figured it out until just recently," he shrugged. "But after thinking carefully about it. I think that while magecraft maybe a dangerous path, it's necessary for me to archive what I wanted."

"And that is...?" Zelretch's voice was now filled with curiosity.

"I wanted to help people in need," Harry simply answered. Then he quickly added after seeing the old man's expression. "Now don't laugh, Zelretch. Let me explain. While it's true that I simply want to help those around me if they ever needed. There's something that I figured out that could be much more of a dangerous threat, " he then looked at Zelretch seriously. "You remember on the day after I moved in here? You told me that Voldermort failed to kill me, but the Dark Lord himself didn't die either. So what if he can get another body later? I mean, look at me. My 'previous self' had been killed, and now I'm receiving his memories. I even inherit his Magic Circuits and maybe skills if what you told me a month ago were true. And since the Circuits are attached to one's soul, it also means that there's at least a part of that guy's soul inside of me right now."

Paused awhile to catch his breath, he then continued. "Just think about it. What if Voldermort somehow could be revived in the same way? Right now he may just be another kid who's waiting to go to Hogwarts without knowing that he was once the Dark Lord, or anyone else for that matter. But then one day all of that memories and powers came back to him like they are to me now. What do you think would happen, Zelretch? He was the most powerful dark wizard of the last few decades. Is there any guarantee that he wouldn't be able to accomplish what my 'previous self' had already accomplished?"

"So yeah. In the end I guess I'm just preparing myself for a fight," Harry shrugged once again. "There's no way to tell if Voldermort would ever come back. But it never hurts to be careful, doesn't it? If he really came back, it would surely cause chaos within the Wizarding World. And then, people would be needing all the help that they could get."

After finishing his speech, the boy looked up only to see that Zelretch were now staring at him with an unexplainable expression.

"What?" He asked hesitantly. "Is there anything wrong with what I just said?"

* * *

Zelretch was certainly surprised, hearing what Harry just told him about. While the chance of that happening exactly like what the boy described was extremely low, it was true that in just a few years, Lord Voldermort was going to be resurrected, most likely by using the same method that the majority of his other versions used.

_Seems like at least a part of Shirou Emiya's wit and experiences is returning,_ the old Apostle stared at Harry. _It's kind of strange hearing that kind of serious talk from an eleven years old._

"What?" Harry's voice pulled Zelretch out of his thoughts. "Is there anything wrong with what I just said?"

"No, it's nothing," he waved his hand, smiling. "That's a great deduction, Harry. I'm just a bit surprised, that's all."

"So what do you think about it?" The boy glanced at him. "I know that it may sound ridiculous. But I just can't shake that feeling off my mind."

"It's not all that ridiculous," Zelretch shook his head slowly. "Also, it's good to be prepared."

"Is that so? Thank you, Zelretch," smiled slightly, Harry then told him. "I'm all good now. Shall we continue with the practice?"

"Sure," the old man grinned. "Let's move on to the magecraft part now."

* * *

About an hour later, Harry finally ran out of energy.

"Oh man... I'm exhausted," murmured the boy while breathing heavily. "My body is numb and sore all over."

"That's because you over-reinforced it," Zelretch patted his back with an encouraging smile. "Once you find out about your own body's exact limit, that won't happen anymore."

"You are right," Harry nodded, smiling happily. "But have my body getting reinforced feels really good though. It was much lighter, but stronger, than normal. And I could actually remove my glasses while still getting a far superior eyesight."

"That's the advantage of using 'Reinforcement' on your own body," said Zelretch while giving the boy another water bottle. "The downside is that your body can become numb and sore after overusing it. Or in the worst case, you can actually destroy yourself with that spell. Because of that, self reinforcement isn't commonly used by other magus."

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry answered seriously after gulping down the water he received from the old man. "This is the first time I've felt anything like that though."

"Don't get addicted," Zelretch warned, grimacing. "You only have a limited amount of prana. And in a real combat situation, you will find yourself using a lot more spells than just 'Reinforcement'. They will drain your energy much faster than what you've just experienced."

"Speaking of which," Harry suddenly remembered something. "I didn't get to practice 'Projection' today."

"That's because I wanted you to focus all of your prana into learning this new spell, and to see how long you can keep it up," Zelretch told him with an satisfying expression. "Almost an hour for the first time in stable condition. I must say that I'm impressed. Just don't get excited and let it go pass your limit next time though."

"And don't worry," he then continued. "From what I see. Your 'Projection' is getting along nicely. Even though you still have trouble creating other kinds of weapons and objects, your projected swords were excellent. With only two months of practice, you are now able to create five different swords at once. That's quite a feat."

"I suppose," Harry smirked, shrugging his shoulder. "Now you can say all you want. But I still remember what you said when I just finally archived that for the first time," he then started to put pressure in every single word while putting on an obviously fake sulky face. "Still-just-mundane-swords. Yeah, I didn't forget how you crushed my joy and pride."

"I just didn't want you to get too full of yourself, kiddo," Zelretch laughed out loud seeing his expression. "But that's true though. There are some crazy swords out there whose strength's capable of much more than you can ever imagine."

"Will I be able to project them?" Harry raised an eyebrow hearing about those amazing weapons. His passion for swords and blades didn't allow him not to voice that question out loud.

"Sure. Why not? But just their shapes though," The old Apostle patted his back sympathetically as the two of them walked into the house. "I'm sorry. But that's the limitation of 'Projection'."

"Guess it can't be helped. But I won't give up though," Harry shrugged disappointedly while heading upstairs to his bedroom. He was really dirty and exhausted from all that training. And what the boy needed right now was a hot shower and a quick nap before getting back down and start making lunch. Thanks to Zelretch's Dreamless Sleeping Potion, his sleeps were completely peaceful now. The only downside was, not seeing any dream also mean that there wouldn't be anymore new piece of memories to be discovered.

* * *

_Dear Hermione._

_How are you? It's me, Harry Potter. I'm sorry that I couldn't write you sooner. I was busy with all the cleaning that I have to do here. Seriously, this mansion is a mess. I still can't understand how Zelretch can live in such a dirty house. Believe it or not, almost every rooms here are covered by dust, except for the ones that are commonly used. (not that I'm upset though, since I have fun doing the chores)_

_Anyway, knowing you, you should've already read all the books that you bought on our first meeting, right? Is there anything good in them? I bet you've found a ton of interesting spells that you want to try out. Too bad we aren't allowed to use magic outside of school. How about us practicing them together once we arrived at Hogwarts? I know that the Malfoy brat told us that the rule only applied for trained young wizards. But it never hurt to be careful, right? After all, both you and me don't have a powerful father like him._

…

Lower his pen, Harry then re-read the first part of his letter for Hermione. The boy was now sitting in his room after finishing lunch. Zelretch had something else to do in the study room, so Harry decided to leave the old man, return to his room and write for the brown-haired girl.

Of course on his last trip to Diagon Alley, he had bought a set of quills and ink. But seriously, using that in this kind of age seemed a bit stupid, especially when there was no rule stated that they _had_ to use them all the time. Therefore, the boy had intended to ask a professor to see if he could bring some pens with him when he came to Hogwarts.

"It's good, I guess," Harry nodded slightly after finished reading. Obviously, the last part wasn't completely true. While there was indeed a restriction about young wizards using magic outside of Hogwarts, it just wasn't applied for Harry himself. According to Zelretch, the mansion that they were staying in was covered by some kind of bounded field to prevent everyone on the outside from detecting the magic used within its boundary. The old man also carefully told Harry not to let anyone else know about that since the field was constructed by magecraft. Besides, it could easily raise the jealousy of Harry's other soon-to-be-school-mates, knowing that the boy could break the rule and practice magic at home without any consequence.

_I feel bad having to lie to her. But it can't be helped, _sighed deeply, Harry then continued writing.

…

_Of course, I don't have that much enthusiasm for reading like you do, so I've only read a few of the school books in my free time. There are some interesting things in there that I really can't wait to discuss with you once we meet, which is just tomorrow at the Hogwarts express's station._

_I will see you there, right? To be honest, I'm very excited about this whole thing. How about you?_

_Well, that's all for now, I guess. There's still a whole West Wing waiting for me to clean up. I will ask my owl – Lily – to deliver this letter. So write back for me if you can, okay? It's alright if you cannot though, we will meet each other soon anyway._

_Also, please send my regard to your parents as well._

_See you soon._

_Your friend._

_Harry Potter._

After reading it once again to make sure that he didn't slip out anything dangerous, Harry put the letter into an envelope, sealed it. He then called Lily, who was now resting on the top of his dresser, over.

"I need you to deliver this to Hermione," said the boy as he tied the letter to the snow white owl's leg. "You know how to find her, right?"

Let out a hoot, Lily then looked at him with confidence.

"Good girl," Harry rubbed her head as he brought her to the window. "Have a safe trip."

Flapped her wing to reassure the boy, Lily then flew out of the room. In just a moment, she became a little dot on the distant sky.

_I hope that she would be okay, _thought Harry worriedly as he walked out of his room. While it was clear that the boy trusted his owl, he still couldn't completely be sure about the whole owl-mailing system of the Wizarding World seeing this was the first time he used it. It was just too uncertain for him. But since Harry didn't want to bother Zelretch every time he needed to send something, he decided to just go with it. If the others could use that, then why shouldn't he give it a try?

_Let's just start cleaning first, _quickly shook his head, Harry started heading to the West Wing. It was better for him to get rid of as much dirt and trash out of those rooms as possible before his departure tomorrow as there was no way for the old man to do so while he was gone. Luckily, Harry had already finished packing his stuffs since yesterday. So there was no need to worry about that anymore.

* * *

"Be sure not to forget anything before going to bed, okay?" Zelretch's voice came from the dining table while Harry was doing the dishes after a big dinner. The boy had gone all out today since from what he knew, he wouldn't get many chances to cook once school started.

"Don't worry Zelretch," said Harry without looking back. "I double checked them yesterday."

"If you say so," replied Zelretch. "After all, I can just send you anything in case you really forget."

"I don't want to trouble you with a little thing like that," he shrugged and said in a matter-of-fact manner. "It's better if I can take care of myself whenever possible."

"It's good to hear," the old man then came over and get himself a cup from the cupboard. "Want some hot chocolate, Harry?"

"No, thank you. I'm so packed right now," Harry smiled, still not taking his eyes off the sink. "Actually, I've been wanting to ask. Is it okay for me to stop drinking those dreamless potion for awhile?"

"Why?" Asked Zelretch, taking a glance at him. "If those nightmares return, wouldn't they cause trouble for your health?"

"It's true," the boy nodded. "But it also mean that I have the chance to find out more about my 'other self'. I'm curious about his connection to me seeing I even inherited at least a part of his soul."

"Good point," the old man raised an eyebrow. "Well, in that case, I suppose it will be okay to stop for awhile. But be sure to start drinking again if it get worse," he then added after a brief pause. "Also, you should drink it tonight as well. Tomorrow is your big day, so you may not want those nightmares to ruin it."

"I certainly don't," Harry finally finished putting the last dish onto the rack and looked up at Zelretch only to see the old man's crimson eyes staring straight into his. Suddenly, the smell of blood that he once felt the other day appeared, not slightly, but so strong and overwhelming that it made the boy felt nauseous. Almost instantly, Harry could also feel a strong force pushed inside his head. Whatever it was, that force looked like it was trying to pierce its way into his brain.

"What...the...hell?" Quickly put an arm on top of the kitchen counter to stop himself from crumbling to the floor. Harry gritted his teeth while throwing Zelretch a glare mixed between anger and confusion.

"What are you...doing...to me?" He breathed heavily trying to keep himself stood straight. "Stop...it, old man. It's...not..."

But before Harry could finish his sentence. A sharp pain struck him as if splitting his head into two.

* * *

_In front of Harry's eyes flashed the image of a short blond girl, dressed in what seemed like a plate armor over a blue dress. The image was too __blurry__ for him to see __properly__. But somehow, Harry could clearly remember what he felt about that scene - the scene of a strange but yet familiar girl who was illuminated by moonlight in an old shed. She was so beautiful that it left him speechless for a moment.__"I, Servant Saber, ask of you. Are you my Master?" She asked. Her voice was so strong, warm, filled with__ grace and__ confidence._

Wha..._ Harry shut his eyes tightly in surprise._ What was that?

_However, just as the boy tried to focus on the scene, it shifted, leaving him with a cracking headache.__"Ugh..." He grunted as the next scene appeared. Harry was now finding himself running through the familiar streets of Little Whinging. Looked back, he could see Dudley and his gang were chasing and throwing rocks at him, laughed whenever one of them managed to hit.__  
_  
_It then shifted again.__This time he was on another street in the middle of the night. And right before his eyes, the blond girl from earlier was now slashing down at the man in red with what looked like an invisible sword that she was holding._

_"Stop, Saber!" Harry heard himself shouted with all his might despite the raging hatred once again started to fill his mind from the sight of the strange man. And he could feel a burning sensation on the back of his hand._

_Once again, the scene shifted. _

_This time, it became a mess of colors, images and people that was impossible for Harry to make out what was what. He could only remember seeing uncle Vernon's furious face, then a cute child with long silver hair, a church, a mysterious woman wearing a black robe with hood covered her face. The boy had also caught a glimpse of Rin, though it was impossible to figure out what she was doing in that clearing in an unfamiliar forest._

_Finally, all of them stopped spinning around and became solid. Harry was now realized that he was witnessing a devastating battle between the girl whose name he guessed was Saber, and a giant man whom looked so insane that it would be more appropriate to call him a monster. Fire sparks flew in all directions every time their weapons collide against each other's with unbelievable speed and strength behind each blow._

_Saber was holding her invisible sword, and looked obviously at a disadvantage against the huge piece of wood that was crudely chipped to look like a blade. The girl was on her defensive all the time while that monster just going rampage, swinging his weapon around and destroy everything it touched. Despite being able to block every of his mad strikes, Saber was gradually being pushed back. Sweats also started to form on her forehead as her strength was drained, and her legs were starting to lose their balance._

_"Let's retreat for now, ******," Rin's cold but hasty voice came from behind Harry. "Saber can handle that herself. There is no point in this if you - the Master - get yourself killed."_

_"Doesn't look like that too me," he answered, gritting his teeth. "Saber looks like she is losing. There's no way for her to win against that thing."_

_"But she's a Servant..." Rin grunted impatiently. "Hey! What are you doing, ******?"_

_Ignored the girl, Harry felt himself quickly dashed over the fight's direction. The situation looked dire. Saber was finally pushed down on one knee, only using the sword to support her body while the monster preparing to deliver the finishing blow._

_"Saber!" He shouted frantically. "Watch out!"_

_With a huge leap, Harry pushed the girl out of the giant sword's way._

_SPLASH!_

_Unbearable pain shoot through his entire body as he saw blood spurted out, dying his surrounding with a sickening deep red color. And just in that moment, Harry realized that he had taken the monster's blow instead of Saber. Needless to say, that was too much for any human body to withstand. Right now, the boy's stomach was missing a big piece, and his body was blown away, smashed against the wall behind, then collapsed to the ground._

* * *

"Stop it, Zelretch!" Harry yelled, finding himself still in the kitchen with his eyes locked with the old man's. The headache was now breaking his head while the unimaginable throbbing pain from having his own stomach got carved open still clearly visible, plus the overwhelming bloody stench, made him want to throw up everything from the meal that he just ate.

"I said STOP!" The boy shouted as he immediately flipped his mental trigger to flood his Magic Circuits with prana just as Zelretch told him two months ago in Olivander's wand shop. Just like that, his head was cleared, the smell instantly disappeared and all of the strange images stopped appearing as the magical force that was trying to invade his mind earlier was pushed away.

Quickly regained his footing, Harry jumped away from Zelretch, pulled the hidden wands out of his sleeves and pointed the Phoenix one at the old Apostle while keeping the other at his side, ready for a Stinging Hex. Of course, it wouldn't do much good against Zelretch, but it might be enough for some of the boy's projected swords, whose shapes were now completely formed inside his head and ready to launch, to successfully hit the target.

"Very well done, Harry. That was even better than I expected. Though next time, don't hesitate to strike your opponent down with whatever spells that are forming inside your wands and your head," slowly clapped his hands, Zelretch then gave him a gentle and warm smile. But that wasn't enough for Harry to lower his wands.

"Not my style, but I will keep that in mind next time if that opponent is you," gritted his teeth and breathing heavily, he grunted. "You better explain now, or this will not end well." Said Harry with a threatening expression. The boy knew full well that against Zelretch, he would stand no chance at all. But it just wasn't really appealing to him to go down without putting up a fight. His mind was now racing to prepare for every possibilities that could happen in case a battle really broke out, to the degree that even Harry himself was surprised by his own thoughts and directions. He had never been in a street fight before, let alone a battle with another magic user. So he could only guess that all the experience came from the memories of his 'other self'.

"That just now…" Zelretch laughed happily while raising both of his arms above his head. "…was me trying to invade your mind and read your memories with magic."

"And why would you do that?" Squinted his eyes suspiciously, Harry let the tips of the Phoenix wand follow the old man's movements.

"To let you experience the feeling of having your mind ripped open for others to see," the old Apostle shrugged. "Not a very comfortable sensation, right?"

"Of course not, old man. You should try in yourself," the boy growled as the nausea hit him once again. "Just why on Earth did you think that I need something like that?"

"Well, firstly, I think that you need to know that while not very common and rarely used without permission, mind reading spell and potion of the Wizarding World were still being used secretly by some wizards," Zelretch grinned and replied. "And just imagine, what if the memories that you just saw were seen by some other strangers? The ones about the Dursleys aside, how are you going to explain all that?"

"Still doesn't justify for the need of actually using that spell on me all of a sudden," said Harry furiously. He still couldn't trust what the old man was saying. "You could've told me about it, or at least warned me first. It would've been just fine."

"Yes, yes," the old Apostle sighed, but still keeping his grin on. "I apologize for doing that without saying anything. But hey, it was interesting," he then burst into laughter again. "And for why didn't I just tell you about the spell and be done with it. Well, I bet you had the feeling of something tried to penetrate your mind, right?"

Harry just nodded without saying anything. He just ignored the part where Zelretch used him for entertainment, knowing the old man, it was his nature and couldn't be helped. Now he just wanted to hear the rest of the explanation.

"That was a sign of someone attacking your mental barrier," Zelretch also nodded. "Also, it was no doubt that you noticed some sort of smell via your prana detection ability. Am I right?"

"Yes, that thick, bloody stench," Harry replied while glaring at him. "What about it?"

"Ah… So that's what it is. I've always wondered. No surprise though," mumbled Zelretch with a smile. He then continued. "Anyway, since Hogwarts is a magical school, it will be nearly impossible to notice if someone is using that spell based on smell alone, and truth potion doesn't leave any physical trace. Therefore, you can only count on that sign to know when your mind's being attacked. So it's better for you to know how it feel now than later," the then paused a little, then looked at Harry with playful eyes. "Also, can I put my arms down? They are getting tired."

"You raised them on your own, so why ask me now?" The boy sighed, but didn't lower his own arm until Zelretch did. While the old man's explanation still didn't satisfy him, it was clear that if Zelretch wanted, he would've been put down a long time ago. So Harry just assumed that he would be safe for now.

"Fine, let's say that I accepted what you just said," he said as the two of them went and sat back down at the dining table. "But what about those memories? Almost all of them are new ones, not counting the ones about the Dursleys of course," the boy waved his hand. "Since you read my mind, you must've seen them too. What do you think?"

"Let's begin by telling me how much can you remember?" answered Zelretch with another question.

"Well…" Harry paused, trying to collect what he had just seen. "A petite blond girl called Saber. She said something about Servant, and Master. I also saw her about to strike down the man in red who've appeared before. Yeah, most of what I saw was about her... And also…"

Suddenly, the strong throbbing pain reappeared at his stomach. Quickly put his right hand over it and his left on the table to support himself, Harry almost threw up. He was able to ignore that once he focus himself on Zelretch's words. But when Harry tried to remember his memories' detail, it came rushing back and hit him.

"I see," said the old Apostle while calmly observing him. "Especially that last one. That was a nasty piece. Are you alright?"

"I'm…fine," groaned in pain, the boy was now struggling to focus as his eyes started to get blurry. "I think I really need to rest though. Just one last question: What kind of life did 'I' lead? And how the heck was 'I' still alive after getting pierced through the heart OR getting my belly blown away anyway? Whatever happened first."

"I'm afraid that I can't answer your question," Zelretch slowly shook his head. "But if there is any other…"

"Of course there are," Harry cut him off, trying to stand up. "Such as those 'Servant – Master' thing. But I prefer for that to wait until tomorrow, before we leave. I…I just can't keep my mind straight anymore."

"It's okay," the old man smiled. "Tomorrow then. Now just sit down. I will send you back to your bed."

With that, he stood up, came over and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. And in just a moment, everything became a big blurry picture before the boy found himself lying on his own bed upstairs. Immediately after realizing that, he fainted due to all the exhaustion and horrifying sensations that had just tortured both his body and mind.

**End of Chapter 3.**


	4. Chapter 4: Hogwarts Express

**Author's note:**

**Chapter 4 is out. This is a rather quick update, and this chapter is pretty long too.**

**For the last chapter, I'm very happy to have received many great suggestions from my reviewers, so here is my special thanks for Blinded in a bolthole, Kikunatzs, ZackxCloud yaoi and Suzululu4moe. You guys' ideas and suggestions will be seriously considered :3.  
**

**Also, I'm sorry for a mistake in the last chapter. Berserker's sword was made from stone, not wood. Thanks 'the weird kid' for pointing it out for me.**

**About this chapter, there will be quite a number of new characters introduced into the story. And it's mostly about the interactions between Harry/Shirou and them, or between themselves with each other.**

**That's all for now, please enjoy.**

* * *

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Asked Zelretch as the boy walked down the stair the next morning.

"Not very good. But better," Harry mumbled while trying to suppress a yawn. "At least the pain on my stomach is gone. Still have a bit of headache though."

"Well, it could be worst, considering today is your departure day," the old man stood up and went over to the kitchen counter. "A whole day on the train is not very comfortable, especially when you are exhausted."

"I'm excited about it though," slumped down on the nearest chair, the boy smiled lightly then mumbled. "After all, not everyday is the first day of school where you won't get bullied or beaten to a pulp."

"With what you have experienced, I can totally understand," Zelretch nodded without turning back. Seemed like the old Apostle was busy fixing some food up, with magic, of course.

At least he tried cooking, chuckled Harry while rolling his eyes. Even with magic, it was quite a ridiculous scene seeing the old playful but proud Zelretch actually worked in the kitchen.

"Here, you should have something to eat before we leave," After awhile, the old man came back and put down a plate with some almost burned toasts and sausages in front of Harry.

"Also, we could use this chance to talk," he added, trying not to look into the boy's eyes. "Just avoid anything that may give you trouble."

"Then, first of all…" Harry started with a mocking tone. "I can't believe that you actually cook, Zelretch. Is that really the old man who I've been living with for the past two months?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me," Zelretch sat down and waved his hand in annoyance. It seemed like he wasn't used to be on the receiving end when it came to teasing.

"And I didn't cook," the old man growled. "I got those from a nearby café. I was just trying to re-heat it for you, ungrateful kid."

"And you managed to burn them like this?" Harry widened his eyes in a clearly faked surprise. "Wow…you really are something else, aren't you?"

"So do you want it or not?" the Apostle glared at him. "And I even went through all the trouble so you didn't have to make breakfast in your condition."

"I'm sorry. I will have it," laughed happily, Harry then started to eat. The food actually wasn't as bad as it looked.

"Thank you, Zelretch," he smiled lightly looking at the old man. "It's good."

"Alright," the old man sighed. "You definitely got that from me. So is there anything you want to ask about?"

"Yup," Harry nodded, "Like I said yesterday. I want to know about the 'Servant – Master' thing that Saber mentioned."

"Oh…That's gonna take awhile. But since we are tight on time, I will try to cut it short." Zelretch crossed his fingers and put them in front of him. "Do you know anything about the Holy Grail?"

"I've only heard of its name," answered the boy. "It's never got my interest before so…"

"That's okay," the old man nodded. "Then let me tell you. In our world of magecraft, Holy Grail is the name for an artifact that was said to be able to grant its possessor of his wish. And I mean any wish, you name it, and it will be done."

"It's not all that awesome though," he then quickly continued before Harry could ask. "It's only able to use that power for two people, actually, one person and one spirit at a time. Therefore, a war to decide the ownership of the Holy Grail was organized. Once every sixty years, the Grail itself chooses seven capable magus and let them become the 'Masters', who will then with the aid of the Grail, summon seven Heroic spirits to fight alongside them during the war. Those spirits that are summoned are called 'Servants'.

Paused a bit and let Harry have the time to understand what he just said, Zelretch then continued. "All those 'Masters', together with their 'Servants' will fight each other in a battle royale. The winning pair will be granted the right to the Holy Grail's power," he then shrugged. "That's it, basically. If you are interested, I can get you some books about that since we are running out of time."

"Yes, please," answered Harry trying to absorb the new information. If what Zelretch said was true. Then his 'previous self' had somehow got involved in that war, and Harry wanted to figure out what happened.

Now that I think about it. The strange men I saw fighting in my dreams, and even that Saber girl, must be Servants. He grimaced remembering about some of his least comfortable dreams. I know that there are something inhuman about them.

"Looks like you've figured out something, eh?" The old man grinned. "Want to tell me what are they?"

"Well, according to what you told me, except for Rin and 'my father', all the others that I've saw in those dreams about my other life are all Servants, right?" Harry asked thoughtfully.

"Good thinking," Zelretch smiled encouragingly. "You are right, they are all Heroic Spirits summoned as Servants."

"And the more I think about it, the more I become disturbed…" the boy grimaced. "But Saber can't be a real name, can it?"

"No it's not, good job, Harry," the old Apostle now laughed happily. "When Servants are summoned, each of them will be given a class. There are seven classes in total, and they are: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, Assassin."

"I still don't get it. Why do they need all that fancy title? Don't they have names?" Voiced another question, Harry stood up and brought his plate to the sink.

"It's because they are Heroic Spirits," answered Zelretch. "They are spirits of famous heroes, or even villain called forth from the Throne of Heroes. Their legends are recorded all over the world in history books as well as folklores. If a Servant got his real name revealed, then his opponents would be able to look up for all those legends and found out about said Servant's weapons, weaknesses and capacities. I bet that no one would want their information to be exposed during a war."

"That makes sense," Harry nodded while putting the plate onto the cupboard after washing it. "Okay, I'm done. Should we get prepared to go now?"

"Yes. I've already got all of your luggage here though," Hearing Zelretch's words, the boy turned around to see his trunk and Lily's cage were now lying on the floor next to the dining table, no doubt that they were just summoned from his bedroom when he was doing the dishes.

"Thank you, I guess," scratched his head, Harry smiled with the old man. "I know that I've said this many times already. But that spell of yours is really, really convenient. You know that?"

"Of course," the old Apostle grinned mischievously. "And I'm not ashamed to say that I won't hesitate to abuse it for my own good."

"I know you won't," the boy shrugged his shoulders while heading to the stair. "Then just wait a minute, I need to change my clothes before we take off."

* * *

"Here we are. King Cross station," announced Zelretch as he and Harry stepped into one of the most crowded place that the boy had ever seen. From two platforms in front of them, many people were now busy getting to their works, or some others just returned from vacations. Standing at the entrance, Harry could even smell the smell of train engine and burning fuel while seeing various kinds of passenger who were anxiously waiting for their acquaintances to pick them up. He carefully looked around the surrounding once, trying to find a girl with bushy brown hair. But it looked like the Grangers had yet to arrive.

Actually earlier, he and Zelretch had had to teleport into a nearby empty small side street using the old man's magic in order not to get seen by Muggles. They then walked for about five minutes before reaching their destination.

"But I don't see platform Nine and Three-Quarters any where," said Harry pointing ahead. "There is platform number Nine. And there's Ten. Is it supposed to be somewhere in the middle?"

"Actually, you are right," Zelretch grinned widely. " It's indeed there. All you need to do is walk into the barrier between two platforms."

"You sure about that?" The boy squinted his eyes suspiciously. "That wall looks pretty solid to me."

"It's magic," the old Apostle replied simply. "You shouldn't be surprised by that. Well, if you still have doubt, look at them."

He then flicked his head to the direction of a family, who were now standing close to the barrier. They were all red head. The most noticeable amongst them was the gentle looking mother. But Harry bet that she would look even more so when not having to wipe the nose of a boy who was about the same age as him.

On the woman's side, there was also a person who appeared to be the oldest boy of the group. He was currently wearing a dead serious face while listening to his mother's words. On the contrary, next to him, there was a pair of red head twin who were now whispering and giggling between themselves, completely ignoring the glares that the woman shoot them with occasionally.

Finally there was a little girl who was holding on to her mother's hand and excitedly looking around. For a moment, her eyes met Harry's. The girl's mouth then dropped in surprise before she quickly turned to her mother and whispered something to her.

"Uh oh," Zelretch whistled softly as the red head family all turned to look at their direction.

"What?" Murmured Harry while glancing at the old man in annoyance. It was obvious that Zelretch was enjoying himself. And that was often a sign saying that bad or embarrassing things are gonna happen to other people.

"Your scar is visible," he smirked. That made the boy even more uncomfortable. He knew what that mean. There was no one in the Wizarding World that wasn't going to recognize the trademark scar of The-boy-who-lived.

"Damn," Harry grimaced as he tried to fix his hair to hide the scar. "Why didn't you tell me? You know that I don't want to get in this kind of situation as much as possible."

"I only noticed it just then," Zelretch answered with a smile that only left the boy with the impression that he was lying. But before Harry had the chance to retort, the strange family had already stood in front of them.

"Erm... Excuse me?" The woman asked hesitantly.

"Yes, how may I help you?" Replied Harry while shooting Zelretch furious glares.

"Are you by any chance...Harry Potter?" She bent down a little and smiled gently. The little girl from earlier was now hiding behind her back, blushing. While all the boys were looking between him and the old man with excitement mixed with curiosity.

"Yes, I am," trying to keep his cool, Harry nodded. "Nice to meet you. Mrs..." He hesitantly gave out his hand.

"Weasley. Molly Weasley," taking his hand, Molly brightened up. "What a polite young man. Let me introduce my family. This is Percy," she pointed at the oldest guy. "The twin over there are Fred and Geogre. And here is my youngest son - Ron. He's also starting Hogwarts this year, just like you," she patted Ron's shoulder. "And this little lady here is Ginny. She's one year younger than you two."

"Ehh... Nice to meet you all," Harry scratched his head, clearly not knowing what to do after being introduced to so many people at once. All the Weasley boys then awkwardly waved at him, while Ginny blushing even harder.

"Uhmm...Here is Zelretch, my guardian," finally, Harry decided to pull the old man in as well. It wasn't fair that he was the one who got all the troubles while the wicked man remain relaxed out of the line of fire.

"Oh, right," hurriedly stood straight up, Molly turned to the Apostle and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Zelretch. Thank you so much for taking care of Harry. It must've been hard for you."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Mrs. Weasley," Zelretch smiled politely, waving his hand. "To tell the truth, I was only entrusted with Harry by his original guardians about two months ago. The boy's relatives let him go with me after knowing that I'm an acquaintance of his parents."

"Really?" Molly raised an eyebrow upon hearing the old man's words. "I know James and Lily. But I've never seen you with them before."

"That's because I've been living abroad until just recently," the Apostle said. "I came back since I have businesses with the Potters, only to find out that they've already..."

Paused a little, he then continued. "Anyway, after hearing the bad news, and knowing that their son's still alive. I decided to visit the boy. But when I saw that he was being raised by Muggles who hated him. I decided to take him into my own house. We are now living at a mansion outskirt of London."

_I wonder how long did he have to prepare for that story,_ Harry could only sighed secretly after hearing Zelretch's speech. _But knowing him, that old man might has just come up with it on the spot._

"Well...in that case, I guess I should thank you again," Molly was clearly confused, and was staring at the Apostle with questioning eyes. But still, the old man's story was a pretty good one.

"You are welcome," Zelretch smiled brightly. "I care for him after all. And by the way, the boy here still doesn't believe me when I told him how to get to platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Can you please show him?"

He then tried to pat Harry's head only to have his hand blasted away.

"Ah yes, of course," The woman beamed up. "Here, Harry. Let's go over to the barrier."

"Well," the old man spoke up again. "Seeing you is another friend of the Potters, can I leave Harry in your care for now," he then put on a very convincing regretting face. "I'm so sorry, Harry. But I have a really urgent business that I have to attend. So can you please stay with Mrs. Weasley until you get on the train?"

"Why? Of course," Molly smiled brightly, obviously happy to have the chance to take care of Harry.

"Sure, if you say so," the boy rolled his eyes again. Right, like sorting out books in the study room is an urgent business. People's gonna die if those useless books aren't getting disposed of soon.

"Thank you. Now don't cause any trouble, okay. Thank you and good bye, Mrs. Weasley. Goodbye, children," Zelretch smiled gently before turning away and left. He soon disappeared into the crowd on the street.

_Great. Just great,_ Harry sighed as he followed the Weasleys to the barrier.

"Are you alright, dear?" Asked Molly worryingly as they walked. "You don't seem so good."

"Ah, it's nothing Mrs. Weasley," he quickly waved his hand. "I just didn't sleep well last night. You know, the excitement before the trip..."

"I see," the woman nodded, giving him an understanding smile. "Don't worry, you can rest once you get on the train. It's going to be a long ride after all."

Of course, Harry hadn't known her before, and he had no way to know if the affection she was showing right now was purely mother's intuition, or it was just an attempt to get close to The-boy-who-lived. But nevertheless, having someone to care for him made Harry feel warmer inside. Zelretch aside, the boy had never had someone who was like a mother to take care of and pamper him.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," he smiled, now feeling a bit better.

"It's no big deal. As a friend of your patents, I see you as my own son," she then paused a little, then asked. "So how was your life back at your relatives' home? The man earlier said that they hated you..."

"Actually, it was quite bad," Harry grimaced. "I prefer not to remember about that time if possible."

"Oh right," blush a little, Molly then quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright," he assured her. "It's got better since Zelretch took me with him though. Despite having a pretty weird sense of humor, that old man's a good guy. He takes care of me, gave me a home, and taught me about the Wizarding World that I had never known about before. He's also responsible. Not that it's very convincing after he left me here before the train left though," the boy finished angrily.

"Now, now," the woman lightly scolded him. "I'm sure he has his reason. Also, he knew that we can be trusted. That's why he can entrust you to us without worry."

"Yeah, I guess," Harry shrugged. "Sometimes he can be unpredictable like that too."

"The way you talk seems very mature for a boy your age," Molly noted, giving him another gentle smile. "But it's a good thing. Okay, here we are."

Their group was now standing in front of the platform barrier.

"Alright, Harry. So what did Mr. Zelretch told you about getting into the platform?" The woman asked.

"Well...," Harry scratched his head. "He told me to just go straight into the barrier. But..."

"That's exactly what we do. Percy," Molly nodded slightly and called for her son. "You go first and show Harry how to do it."

"Okay, mum," Percy replied, finally took his eyes off of Harry. "See you on the other side then."

The boy then took a hold on his trunk, and quickly walked over to the barrier. But just before a terrible crash happened, he vanished.

"Wow..." Harry's eyes widened. However, around them, no one beside his group seemed to notice Percy's disappearance.

_There must be some kinds of bounded field cover the entrance to divert the Muggles' attention,_ thought to himself, Harry then continued to watch as the red head twin waved to him and their mother, then one by one vanished the same way their brother did.

"Your turn, Ron," Molly patted her youngest son's back. The boy then took a last curious look at Harry before following his brothers.

"Let's go, Harry," she then told him as Ron disappeared. "Don't worry. You won't crash. Just do it like the others did."

Gave her a bright smile, Harry then grabbed his trunk and started making his way toward the barrier. Now after seeing a few examples, he didn't have anymore doubt. The boy still had to admit that it's kind of amazing to be able to disguise an entrance that way though.

With only a few steps, Harry closed the distance between him and the wall. His eyes shut tightly as a natural reflex. But of course, there was no crash. Instead, when the boy opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in another station filled with strange dressing people, in front of a big, crimson red train which was now letting out clouds of smoke.

"That's the Hogwarts Express," Molly's voice came from behind made Harry turned around. To his surprise, in place of the entrance, which was supposed to be a solid brick wall, was now a huge gate with a banner sign on top of it that said 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters'.

"Are you alright, dear?" Seeing his dumbfounding face, Molly bent down and asked worryingly. "You can get onto the train and rest now if you want."

"What...ah no, it's okay, Mrs. Weasley," quickly shook his head, the boy reassured her. "I'm just impressed by the magic used on the gate to disguise it, that's all."

"Is that so? It's all good then. We were all like that at first, right?" Sighed in relief and smiled sweetly, Molly then stood up and started to lead Harry to join up with the rest of the group. However, just as they started to walk, a voice stopped them.

"Molly, can you please wait a moment?"

It was a very serious voice that made both Harry and the woman to turn to its direction. And from the midst of the crowd, walked out a serious looking old witch in deep green robe. She quickly made her way toward their spot.

"Oh, good morning, professor," Molly smiled, looking a bit lost. She then turned to the boy. "Harry, this is Professor McGonagall, one of your professor and also the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts."

_Seems like she's one of the people who are out to look for me,_ Harry silently noted. Zelretch had already told him that something like that was bound to happen. The disappearance of The-boy-who-lived wasn't something for them to be able to completely ignore after all.

"Nice to meet you, Professor McGonagall," he smiled and bowed slightly.

"It's good to see you safe, Mr. Potter," looked at him, the old witch then told Molly. "Can you please leave us for a moment? I have something to ask him about leaving his relatives house. It will be done in time for him to catch the train."

"Ah...yes, of course," looking confusedly between Harry and McGonagall, Molly then quickly waved her hand, said goodbye to both of them and went to see her children.

"Well, now Mr. Potter," lightly coughed, the witch then asked. "Can you please tell me why did you leave your guardians' house. And where have you been for the last two months?"

_Straight to the point, eh?_ Harry scratched his head and sighed. _This woman is definitely not someone you want to mess with._

"I was brought out of the Dursleys' house by an old friend of my parents, an old man called Zelretch," he answered, looking straight into her eyes. "We are now living in a mansion just outskirt of London."

"But what on Earth made you decided to go with a stranger instead of staying with your own relatives?" McGonagall glared at him. "Besides, I've never heard of James and Lily having any friend with that name."

"Well, if getting beaten and bullied by the very same relatives isn't enough of a reason, then I can't think of anything else," Harry shrugged his shoulder. "Also, how can you possibly know about all of my parents' friends and acquaintances? Zelretch's been living abroad until just recently. Maybe that's why you didn't know about him."

"And..." He then interrupted the witch as she was about to say something. "You believe it or not, Zelretch's been a much better guardian than the Dursleys could ever be. My relatives hated magic, whoever sent me there should've done a better job researching about my potential guardians," the boy sighed disappointedly. "Thanks to him, that hatred was directed to me and made my life...how do I say it? Ah right, hellish should be the right word. But there's no use to rant into detail now, isn't it? Anyway, I'm glad that Zelretch came and took me with him."

"Mr. Potter," Said McGonagall solemnly while fixing her square glasses. "We only did what we thought was the best for you. And at that time, your relatives were the best choice available."

"Yeah, maybe you are right. I'm sorry professor," Harry waved his hand. "It's just that it was such a terrible time. And I'm sure that if you had lived there for ten years, then you would feel the same as me and moved out on your first chance to do so. So is there anything else?"

"One last thing, can you give us your exact address of the house you are staying at now?" She asked. "Our Headmaster will work with you further as I have no authority to do so."

"Well, sure," answered Harry as he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. After writing down his address, he gave it to the witch.

"Ah, can I ask you something, professor?" He suddenly remembered something. "Erm...you see, I don't want to use quills and ink all the time. So can I bring some pens with me to Hogwarts?"

McGonagall's eyes widened a little hearing his question, she then nodded.

"It's allowed. But it's required for you to use quills and ink in all formal documents, that also including tests and assignments. You can use your pen for everything else, taking class notes and such."

"I see. Thank you, professor," Harry smiled brightly. "So is it okay for me to get on the train now?"

"Yes," she answered. "See you at Hogwarts, Mr. Potter."

With that, McGonagall vanished in the blink if an eye. But different from Zelretch, her disappearance left a loud 'Pop' noise behind that kind of startled Harry, who was now used to the soundless version of teleportation.

_That's one problem solved,_ he shrugged as he started walking toward where the Weasleys were. _Now I'm looking forward to see how Zelretch deal with those visitors. But knowing him, maybe he would just bail whenever they come._

* * *

"Here you are, dear," Molly said worryingly while holding onto Ginny's hand when she saw Harry walking toward them. "Are you okay? What did professor McGonagall want to talk about?"

"It's nothing, Mrs. Weasley," he smiled, reassuring her. "She just wanted to know my current address and why I left my relatives' house."

"Well, as long as it doesn't trouble you," she sighed. "But you should get on the train quickly. All the boys have already boarded."

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. Just a moment..." Harry murmured while looking around anxiously. _Where is Hermione, she should be here already..._

"Are you waiting for someone?" Asked Molly seeing his actions.

"Yeah..." He replied, still searching. Just then, a familiar girly voice shout out his name from behind made both him and the woman turned to look in that direction.

"Harry! Harry, over here," Hermione was now quickly walking, almost running, toward them waving her hand happily. Behind her was Mr. and Mrs. Granger, while Harry's owl - Lily - circling above them.

"Hermione," smiled brightly, Harry waved back at his friend. "I have started to think that I wouldn't be able to see you until later."

"Well, actually," the girl stopped in front of him, panting a little. "My parents told me to get on the train awhile ago. But in your letter, you said we would meet at the platform, so..."

"Ah that's right," she then looked down, blushing a bit. "I'm sorry that I couldn't reply. I was busy with preparing for today. You know..."

"Too many books?" Harry teased, grinning widely. Hermione just silently nodded.

"Well, you are here now," he then smiled gently. "Also, I did write in my letter saying that it's okay if you couldn't write back. Oh, welcome back Lily. Did you have a good trip?" The boy asked as his owl flew over and landed on his shoulder. Lily then hooted happily while flapping her wings.

"That's a very smart owl you have there," finally, Mrs. Granger said as she and her husband caught up to their daughter. "She knows how to knock on the windows, and refused to leave until we give her a reply for you. Apparently she understood us when we said we were going to see you today."

"Maybe the owls of the Wizarding World are all like that," Harry smiled and shook both of the adults' hand. He then continued. "It's good to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Granger. This is a friend of my patents, Molly Weasley and her daughter, Ginny," he looked at Molly. "Mrs. Weasley, this is my friend Hermione and her parents. I met them in Diagon Alley when I went there shopping for school supplies."

After that, he and Hermione started to pull their trunks up onto the train while the adult started talking to each other and Ginny was still staring at him, only to have her eyes quickly turned away whenever he looked back at her.

"It looks like that girl has quite an interest in you, right, Harry?" Asked Hermione, teasing him a little as they started working on her trunk. It was noticeably heavier than Harry's due to all the books packed inside. But with all the stamina and muscles training that Zelretch had him do in the past two months, plus the help of Hermione, it wasn't such a daunting task.

"Well, who in this world isn't interested in 'The-boy-who-lived'?" Shrugging his shoulder, Harry answered sarcastically. The fact that he's famous, while having its own advantages, also brought some downsides with it. For example, the boy now had to judge a person much more carefully before deciding if he can trust them or they were just getting close to him for their own goods. And all that fame also mean that he would get unwanted attention no matter where he went.

However, it didn't mean that Harry was angry or upset with Ginny's stare. She was still just a kid, and her interest in him may just purely be admiration for a hero or something, since he was aware that there were many books and stories about him and his deed against the Dark Lord, not that all of them were true of course. Although it didn't change the fact that Harry felt a bit uncomfortable from being stared at constantly.

"I guess that's true, huh?" Smiling, Hermione nodded slightly. "But you have to admit that what you did was amazing. Put an end to the reign of 'You-know-who' and all..."

"It's nothing of that sort since even I don't know how that happened," Harry flatly denied.

"Well, but I've read all the books about you. Some of them sounded really good, you know," the girl said enthusiastically. It was obvious since she started to talk about her books.

"Please tell me you didn't believe them," he sighed, looking away. But immediately, the boy realized that he said something he shouldn't.

"Oh come on, you don't really mean that, do you?" Hermione instantly frowned and scolded him upon hearing his words. "I maybe nerdy, and I admit trusting in the books that I read. But please don't insult me by saying that I'm not capable of telling what's real and what's fictional," she then also sighed. But when the girl looked back at Harry, her expression had become a bit gentler. "You were one year old at that time, Harry. Of course I know that you didn't do all what was written."

"I see," the boy scratched his head embarrassedly. "I'm sorry, Hermione."

"It's okay," the girl smiled gently. "How about we go and find a place to sit? My legs are starting to get tired."

"Ah right," Harry said quickly as he lead both of them went along the train. "Sorry for making you wait that long. I didn't know how to get into the platform at first. So... Well, how about here?" He asked after they arrived at a compartment which had two boys sitting inside. One of them was Ron Weasley, and the other was a strange boy with short hair and round-faced whose name Harry didn't know.

"Excuse me..." he asked after sliding the door open. "Can I and my friend sit here? All the other compartments seem to be full already."

"Yes, of course," the two other boys nodded in unison. So Harry and Hermione stepped inside and started to put away their luggage.

"Thank you," said the boy after the two of them were properly seated. "I'm Harry Potter. And this is Hermione Granger. It's nice to meet you two."

"Eh... I'm Ron Weasley. But you've already know that..." The red head scratched the back of his head.

"And I'm Neville Longbottom," said the other boy who was now looking at them, especially at Harry, with a bit of shock and surprise in his eyes.

"Are...Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron asked hesitantly. That made Hermione to throw him a disagree glare but the boy seemed not to notice it.

"Well, this scar says so," smirking, Harry pointed to his forehead. But he quickly changed the subject after seeing Neville looking at him with admiration. "How about you, Ron? It must be nice to have so many siblings. I don't have any. So yeah, to be honest, I'm a bit jealous seeing your family like that."

"It...It's not all that great," Ron blushed a little. "When you have that many older brothers. You can't have anything new at all. See? Even my pet is from Percy after he got bored of it." The boy said while taking the fattest rat that Harry had ever seen out of his chest pocket.

"Wow..." Harry, Neville and Hermione said together. Harry then continued. "It's...a nice rat, right?"

"Not really," Ron sighed. "All it's ever known to do are eat and sleep. Quite useless, eh?"

After that, an awkward silence filled the compartment.

"Erm..." After awhile, Hermione decided to break the ice. "Did you guy read any of the school books? I've read all of them and memorized a bunch of cool spells that I want to try out later. I can't wait until school start." She said excitedly, looking around at the boys.

"Really? I haven't even touched them yet. And we are still on the train and you've already thought about classes?" Asked Ron with his eyes widened in disbelief, while Harry silently grinned since his guess was spot on, the girl had really read all the books she bought.

"Why not?" She continued. "All of this magic, it's very interesting, right? I couldn't believe it at first. But after professor McGonagall showed me some of her magic, I was so excited. She was the one who came to deliver the letter to me by the way."

"Well maybe, but still, talking about classes at this time..." Ron murmured. He then suddenly asked. "Does that mean you are a Muggle-born? To have a professor to deliver the letter..."

"Yes. Is there anything wrong?" Harry replied instantly instead of Hermione in a warning voice since he didn't know any other pure blood family other than the Malfoys. And they weren't such a good example of people who would treat Muggles fairly.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong," Ron simply shrugged, apparently didn't realized that Harry had just threatened him. "Me and Neville here are both from pure blood families. But we don't have anything against Muggles. Only jerks do that, right, Neville?"

"Wha...ah...yeah, that's right," the round-faced boy was obviously startled from getting asked suddenly.

_This guy has some serious self-confidence issue. While the other seems to be pretty dull around the edge and a bit slow,_ Harry noted from listening to their conversation. _But despite having some bad points, at least they don't discriminate Muggles and Muggle-born wizards._

"Hey, isn't that Mrs. Weasley out there? Looks like she's calling you, Ron," finally, he said, pointing out of the windows. "Your parents too, Hermione. And is that your granma, Neville? She's looking into this compartment," the boy squinted his eyes seeing a very old and incredibly weirdly dressed woman, who was now standing in front of Molly. What she was wearing was the most ridiculous clothes combination that Harry had ever seen, even in the Wizarding World.

"Ah, that's right..." Neville paled a little seeing his grandma. "I think I should come down and say goodbye to her..."

The boy then fled the compartment.

"I think we should come too," Ron stood up. "I forgot that my mum does that every time. And your parents seem like they want to see you too, Hermione."

"You guys go on ahead," said Harry with a trace of sadness in his voice. "I'll stay here to watch the luggage."

"Oh don't be silly," Immediately, Hermione pulled him up. "My parents like you, so they would love to say goodbye to you. Ron's mum would too, right, _Ron_?"

She purposely put pressure on her voice when saying the red head's name, as if daring him to deny her words and say otherwise.

"Yes, of course," however, once again, Ron failed to notice the threat. He then smiled a little. "Let's go then."

* * *

Dumbledore was now sitting in his office at Hogwarts, thinking about the news that McGonagall had just brought to him as a mixed feeling started to raise inside his mind.

_So after two months of going missing, the Potters' boy suddenly appeared on his own,_ he thought while staring straight ahead. _Well, at least that part of my plan is back on track now._

The problem was the Headmaster had failed to find any trace of the man that took Harry away from his relatives. And the old wizard was afraid of not knowing just what did that Zelretch tell the boy, how much did he teach him about this world. Obviously, Dumbledore didn't want Harry to know more than what he wrote in the letter left for the Dursleys ten years ago. But from what the witch told him earlier, it seemed like the Potters' boy had had everything hidden from him by his aunt and uncle.

_That's still better than him knowing everything,_ the old man sighed.

"Hey, isn't it good that the Potters' son showed up? What are you sighing about?" Suddenly, one of the portraits on the office's wall asked.

"Yes, Phineas. It's a good news," Dumbledore replied with a playful smile. "It's just that the circumstances behind his disappearance in the first place is still unknown. So I have to work into that once the boy arrived here."

_That's right, especially that man named Zelretch,_ he silently noted. _From McGonagall's report, it seems like he has done a better job taking care of Harry than the Dursleys. But still..._

Finally, the Headmaster settled with the plan to come to visit the house on the address that was given to McGonagall by Harry. After all, there was no better way to find out more about that mysterious person than to meet him directly. But that had to wait until later, since today was an important day - Hogwarts opening ceremony. And Dumbledore himself as the Headmaster, couldn't afford not to attend the party, unless he want to be chewed throughout by his own teacher staff later.

"Guess I will take this chance and visit the kitchen," murmured the old man as he walked out of his office. Since there would be a party that evening, there was no doubt that the house elves were going to make some really delicious foods.

* * *

"Are you alright, Neville? You looking for something?" Asked Harry as he looked at the other boy. Right now, the four of them had already come back to their own compartment, and Neville had been acting strangely for awhile, as if he lost something important.

"Eh? Ah that's right," replied the boy frantically, still searching around. "It's my toad, Trevor. I don't see him anywhere."

"Are you sure you had it when we came back to our seats?" Asked Hermione peaking out from the book she was reading.

"Yes," Neville nodded, his eyes started to get watery. "I'm sure that I still had him right before we went in this compartment."

"But that was thirty minutes ago," Ron said in an exaggerated voice. "If you've lost it for that long, it could be anywhere now."

"Oh don't say that, Ron," Hermione scolded the red head before turning to Neville, who was now on the edge of crying. "Come on, Neville. We will help you to find Trevor."

"We..." Just as Ron was about to retort, Harry silently kicked the boy's leg, and slowly shook his head when Ron turned to look at him in pain.

"Better not say anything, dude," he whispered to the red head. "That girl can become very bossy at times, so bear with it."

Unfortunately, after an hour of going around and asking many people, they still weren't able to figure out about the toad's whereabout.

"I guess he's lost after all," said Neville sadly as he threw himself onto the couch in their compartment. "He's always disappeared like that, but this isn't my house. So it's impossible to know where he went."

"Cheer up. It's just a toad," Ron, on the other hand, patted Neville's shoulder jokingly. "You can always get a new one. I mean, I've always wanted for my rat to go missing. But look at him, just lies there and refuses to move at all. Sometimes I just wonder if he's dead." He then turned over to poke the fat rat with his finger.

"Ron, that's insensitive," Hermione instantly scolded the red head.

"It's okay, Hermione," Neville shook his head and said before Ron can open his mouth. "And thank you, Ron. That cheered me up a bit."

"See that?" The red head turned to Hermione triumphantly. But the girl just glared back at him and kept her silence.

"So...," Ron then continued, changing the topic. "Do you guys know which house you will be sorted into?"

That question seemed to got both Hermione and Neville's attention as the two of them instantly perked up. Harry on the other hand, have no idea what Ron was talking about.

"Erm...excuse me?" He raised his hand hesitantly. "What is 'house'? And why do we need to be sorted into them?"

"You are going to Hogwarts without knowing about that?" Ron widened his eyes and dropped his jaw in surprise. Next to him, Neville was wearing the exact same expression.

"Oh come on, Harry was raised by Muggles for ten years, remember?" Hermione quickly defended Harry, but then she turned to look at him. "But it's certainly a surprise that your new guardian didn't tell you anything about that. For me, I knew about them even before Professor McGonagall told me by reading books."

_Great job, Zelretch, for not telling me something so basic,_ Harry facepalmed himself. That was the truth, for two month of living together, all that he and the old man did that was related to magic were various kinds of training, and the two of them rarely talked about Hogwarts at all.

"Well, for short, there are four dorms at Hogwarts, or 'houses' as they are called," Hermione then started explaining. "Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufferpuff and Slytherin..."

"It was said that each house has a different standard in choosing its students," Neville jumped in. "Gryffindor for courage, Ravenclaw for their intelligent, Hufferpuff is loyalty, and Slytherin..."

"...is for Dark Wizards," Ron cut him off. "Seriously, all the Dark Wizards came from Slytherin."

"That's not true, Ron," Hermione frowned. "That house chooses students based on how cunning and ambitious they can be. That's why many of them become Dark Wizards later, but not everyone from Slytherin are bad."

"Say what you want, those snakes are jerks," Ron replied then quickly looked out of the window, refused to hear the girl anymore. Behind him, Hermione started to flush up in anger.

"I see, thank you guys," Harry nodded slightly why patting the girl's shoulder, trying to calm her down. From what he had seen, Hermione was most likely to be sorted into Ravenclaw, given her love for books. Neville will go into Hufferpuff, since he appeared to be a good friend, bur seriously lacked in courage, as well as intelligent and ambition to be able to join any of other three.

Ron on the other hand, was a hard case. Harry honestly didn't see any outstanding quality in the red head at all. So he was curious about where that boy would be sorted into later.

_I can see myself going into Gryffindor though,_ Harry thought. Of course the boy wasn't boasting. If there was something about himself that he took pride in, then it would be his courage. Though the desire to improve himself and help other people could somehow be considered his ambitions, so Slytherin could also be a reasonable option.

_I wonder how Ron will feel after finding out that Harry Potter, the one who put an end to the Dark Lord, has been sorted into Slytherin,_ grinned to himself, the boy thought. Actually, on that matter, Harry had found himself disagreeing with the red head. If Slytherin had taught only Dark Wizards, then why was it still allowed to exist? Also, he didn't like judging people based on where they came from.

Finally, and most importantly, was that Harry had learned from Zelretch that the world wasn't simply divided into 'Dark' and 'Light'. Everything had something else to it more than what people normally saw, just like two sides of the same coin.

"Well, seeing it's still a few more hours until lunch, I think we should get some rest," after awhile, Harry suggested. He was still tired from last night.

In respond, only Ron and Neville agreed with him, Hermione said that she would be fine with her books then came back to reading.

With that, Harry pulled out from his trunk a bottle of dreamless potion. He didn't want all these kids to see how bad his nightmares - or memories - could come to be. Also, it wouldn't be nice for him if he dreamed about 'himself' getting brutally killed right before the opening ceremony.

"Is that a Dreamless Sleeping Potion?" Hermione looked up in curiosity once she saw the bottle in his hand.

"Yes," Harry nodded after taking a sip from it. He didn't plan to sleep for long after all.

"Why do you need that?" Ron leaned over to look at the potion more closely. "You must have many bad nightmares if you have to use it."

"Actually, yeah," answered the boy as he started to feel the potion taking effect. "Before using this, I used to have nightmares every time I go to sleep."

"That must be terrible," Neville looked at him sympathetically.

"What did you dream about? 'You-know-who'?" Ron, on the other hand, began to get excited. But Hermione quickly kicked him on the same leg that Harry did and made the red head teared up in pain.

"No," Harry shook his head. "I mostly dreamed about random nightmares. That's...all," he then felt that his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. "Sorry guys, looks...like...the potion is...kicking in. See you...later..."

With that, the boy completely felt into sleep.

* * *

Hermione Granger was now sitting in her compartment, reading a book called 'Hogwarts - A History'. Of course, she had read it many time already, but those stories never cease to amaze her. Around her, three other boys who were staying in the same compartment were now sleeping soundly.

Taking a look over the book, she saw in front of her Ron Weasley, the red head boy who was already in here before her and Harry came in. From what Hermione had seen, he wasn't such a bad boy, but was kind of dull and insensitive. Obviously, she couldn't find herself getting along with him.

Next to him was Neville Longbottom, the round-faced boy didn't impress her much with anything. And since he didn't talk much, Hermione wasn't able too see much of him beside him being a rather weak boy.

But nevertheless, meeting those two was like taking a huge load off of her shoulders. The only pure blood that Hermione really interacted with beside the shopkeepers in Diagon Alley was that Malfoy brat. And he didn't exactly leave her with a good first impression. After that meeting, Hermione had become a bit afraid that even if she went to Hogwarts, there would be no guarantee that she would be able to avoid being left out and discriminated. Just like in her previous Muggle school, Hermione didn't have any friend. People got away from her, didn't want to talk to her simply because she was nerdy, and all she had ever talked about were things that she read in her books.

However, Ron and Neville had somehow showed Hermione that it maybe wasn't the case here. She was able to keep up a decent conversation with people of her age. And they didn't have anything against Muggle-born like her. That alone had given Hermione hope to be able to make more friends here and have an enjoyable school life just like in the stories that she had read.

_Speaking of friend..._ Smiled lightly, she turned to look at her side. Sleeping there was someone who could be considered her first friend - Harry Potter. The day that she first met him was a memorable day. Hermione could never forget that for the first time, someone who wasn't her parents or teachers stood up for her. Even more surprising, that someone was a complete stranger.

The scene from that moment was still clearly visible on Hermione's mind. Despite being unarmed while having a wand pointed at him, Harry didn't retreat a single step. He was afraid, she could see a trace of it on his expression at that time. But the boy refused to step away and protected her until the end.

_Definitely a Gryffindor,_ still smiling, Hermione slowly shook her head then came back to her book. She knew that with her love for books, it was almost a given that she would come to Ravenclaw. But deep inside, she still wish to be sorted into the same house as Harry. It was only natural for her to want to stay close with her first friend.

After that, Hermione just kept on reading. It was about an hour later that Neville started to wake up.

"Ah...good morning, Hermione," the boy said sleepily while rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning, Neville," she replied, looking up at him. "How was your sleep?"

"Good," he nodded. "You actually didn't sleep at all, do you?"

"No, I'm good," Hermione smiled.

Their conversation seemed to wake Ron up as well, as the red head opened his eyes and stretched his arms, he murmured.

"Ehh... Is it lunch time now?"

"No Ron," Neville giggled. "It should be one more hour until lunch."

"I'm starving..." the red head sighed. "So Harry still hasn't woken up yet?"

"That potion is very effective," Hermione shook her head. "Just let him sleep, it must be hard on him to have to depend on that kind of medicine."

"Hey..." Ron suddenly whispered. "What do you think he usually dreams about? It must be something very bad..."

Hearing that, Neville perked up in interest. But Hermione just frowned.

"That's personal, Ron," She whispered back. "If Harry doesn't want us to know, then it's his right to do so."

"I'm not questioning him or anything," the boy retorted. "I'm just telling us to guess. Besides, aren't you curious about that, Hermione?"

"That's..." She hesitated, wasn't able to flatly deny his words. Ron was right, of course she also wanted to know just what was disturbing her friend's dream.

"So what do you think, Neville," Ron took her hesitation as the answer, then turned to the other boy.

"Well..." Neville shrugged. "Harry himself said that they aren't about 'You-know-who'. So maybe he dreamed about his relatives? He did tell us that they kind of abusing him for a long time..."

"Hardly," Ron waved his hand. "Just how bad could it be for them to be able to haunt his dreams that frequently? I'm guessing..."

But they never got to hear the red head's guess as immediately after that, the compartment door slide open with a loud 'Thud!'. And from outside came in a voice that even after two months, Hermione still couldn't forget about.

"I heard that Harry Potter is in this compartment, so I came to take a look," Draco said with a smirk, looking around at the people inside. "But look at what I also find here, it seems like the Potters has also got rotten as well, eh?"

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione coldly asked. She now noticed that the brat wasn't alone. Behind him there were two more boys who looked like mini giants compared to Ron or Harry or Neville. Also, their faces looked extremely dumb.

"I didn't allow you to speak, you filthy Mud-blood," Draco glared at her but she didn't flinch.

"What did you just say?" Ron, on the other hand, sprung up in rage at the word Draco just used. Surprisingly, even Neville had also stood up, his round face turned red from anger, despite his body was shaking uncontrollably. The two of them, led by Ron, then charged at the blond brat before Hermione was able to stop them.

"Wow, slow down, Weasley, Longbottom," with a triumphant smirk, Draco then signaled one of his followers. "Goyle, will you teach those two a lesson about respecting me?"

And the result was completely obvious. In just a moment, the two boy were pushed back into a corner by the troll named Goyle. Ron was still glaring at him furiously despite not being able to do anything, while Neville looked like he was going to burst into tear.

"Stop it, Malfoy," Hermione stood up, she could feel her face burning from anger. "Release them, now."

"You are not in the position to be giving order now," Draco laughed mockingly. "That's right, you still own me from last time. So let's settle it now, okay? Get her, Crabbe."

Upon the brat's order, the second troll made his way in and grabbed Hermione's collar with his fat hand. She quickly paled from being approached too violently.

"Let her go, Malfoy," Ron grunted from behind her. "What are you doing? Bullying a girl?"

"I'm just teaching this lowly Muggle a lesson," Draco snorted. "Bring her here Crabbe."

"Let...me...go...!" Hermione kicked Crabbe's leg, hit the hand that was holding her, trying to get free. But it was of no use, it looked like all of that boy's lack intelligent had been compensated by their strength and fat muscles.

Tears were about to fall from Hermione's eyes, but she tried to suppress it. Of course she was frightened, but in any case, it wasn't acceptable to show that kind of people any weakness. Instead, she keep glaring at the brat with challenging eyes.

"Still resisting, eh?" Draco grimaced, then he pulled out his wand. "Maybe a curse will teach you better."

Seeing the tip of the wand pointed straight at her face, Hermione tried to turn away and shut her eyes tightly. From behind, she could hear something like the sound of Ron trying to rush out, but was pushed back mercilessly.

In front of her, Draco had already started chanting. Hermione closed her eyes even tighter, waiting for what no doubt was a very gruesome curse to hit her.

However, that never came, after a few second, she felt like her collar was released, and she slumped down to her seat. From somewhere in the middle of the compartment came Harry's familiar voice.

"You should've let her go sooner. That's not the way to hold a girl."

Opened her eyes a little and looked around her surrounding, Hermione could see Crabbe was now holding his wrist and grunted in pain, while behind him, Draco paled a little. Goyle was still holding his ordered position of keeping Ron and Neville in a corner. And in the middle of them, stood Harry, grinning while holding a short bamboo sword that she had no idea where did it come from.

"Sorry guys," the boy apologized. "Looks like I overslept a little."

* * *

The dreamless potion was indeed very effective, after taking just a sip of it, Harry then fell asleep without knowing anything that was going on around him.

After a few hours had passed, he finally found himself regained consciousness. However, even without opening his eyes, Harry could tell that something weird was going on based on the sound of the conversation around him.

_Looks like that brat is looking for trouble again..._ He sighed softly and decided to take a peak at the situation. Just as expected, in a far corner were Ron and Neville being imprisoned by a boy that looked like a baby mountain troll, while in front of him was Hermione being held by her collar by another one that looked almost the same.

_I didn't know that this world allows to keep trolls as pets,_ jokingly thought to himself, Harry then quickly get his right hand into a spot hidden from sight and started to activate his Magic Circuits in order to project a short bamboo sword, which he thought was the best weapon to be used in this cramped space without inflicting fatal injuries to the victims. After all, Harry just wanted to drive them away while scaring them enough that they won't come back anytime soon. Also, it wasn't ideal to seriously injure his schoolmates even before the opening ceremony.

Just as Draco finished pulling out his wand and pointed it at Hermione, the sword inside Harry's hand was completely projected. Instantly, he sprang up from his seat and with a small strike, he hit the wrist of the boy who was holding Hermione, made him release her and grunted in pain.

"You should've let her go sooner, Harry grinned. "That's not the way to hold a girl."

"Sorry guys, looks like I overslept a little," he then turned over to look at the others and smiled reassuringly at the teary Hermione, who was now losing strength in her legs and slumped down onto the couch before turned ahead to face Draco. The brat was gradually turning paler and paler.

"So what business do you have with us, Malfoy?" Harry asked while once again confirming the two troll boys' positions, since they were the ones who were most likely to charge at him for physical combat.

"Harry Potter is protecting those kinds of trash." Despite his shaky voice, Draco was smirking. "It looks like the Potter bloodline has also hit the bottom."

"There are indeed some trash in here," Harry nodded, looking around. "And I'm trying to get rid of them, not protecting them. So if you and your two troll friends can understand what I mean, then can you please leave?"

"You..." the brat's face immediately changed from pale to an ugly red shade of anger. He shouted, pointing at Harry. "Goyle, get him."

"Oh man, I thought you were smarter than that," Harry sighed disappointedly while Goyle turned and attacked him from behind.

"Watch out, Harry," Hermione frantically warned him. But the boy had reacted even before that. With a smooth movement, he swiftly spin around to dodge the attack and thrusted the tip of the bamboo sword at Goyle's throat. That made the troll boy collapsed on his knees, unable to breath.

"Can you please leave now and take him with you?" Looked back at the now-paled-once-again Draco, Harry asked, pointing at the downed opponent. From all around, Ron, Neville and Hermione were staring at him, their eyes opened wide in shock.

"No way," the brat grunted angrily. "I won't accept being humiliated like this. Crabbe!"

Hearing his name called, Crabbe instantly charged at Harry. But a straight attack from the front wasn't much of a threat. With a small side step, Harry avoided the troll boy's body slam while taking a swing at the back of his leg with the sword. Ron and Neville hastily jumped out of the way as Crabbe lost his balance and stumbled forward, then fell down on top of Goyle, who was now unconscious from having another troll's weight dropped on him.

However, it wasn't all over. From the corner of his eyes, Harry caught a glimpse of Draco aiming his wand at him. Immediately reacted to the brat's movement, he took a big step toward his opponent, and with an upward swing of his arm, blasted the wand out of Draco's hold while leaving him with a bruise where the sword struck.

"Owww..." The brat let out a pained scream while holding his injured hand and started to retreat out of the compartment as Harry pointed the bamboo sword right at his face.

"I will ask again," Harry glared at him. "Can you please leave now?"

Cold sweat started to break out from Draco's forehead as his eyes dashed between Harry and the sword. But still, he refused to speak.

"Malfoy!" Harry pressed. "Leave now! Or else..."

But the last words of that sentence was drowned in the warning shout of Ron, Neville and Hermione from behind.

"Look out, Harry!"

Hearing that, Harry turned around just in time to see Crabbe, who was now able to stand up, and charging at him again. But this time, it was more like his charge was interrupted from being tackled by Ron and Neville. The two of them once again pushed the troll boy off of his feet, and was falling forward, head first toward where Harry and Draco were standing.

Seeing the human rocket a moment too late, Harry wasn't able to grab the blond brat with him before threw himself to the side. As a result, Draco was perfectly sandwiched between Crabbe's full weight and the compartment wall behind him. The two of them could only let out a loud "Ugh!" Before crashing down to the floor and fainted.

_Wew..._ Harry then wiped off the sweat on his face while staring at the aftermath of his battle. _Double kill. That weight indeed isn't something to be taken lightly,_ he shivered from imagining what would've happened if he was hit by Crabbe's launch without being able to reinforce his own body first.

"Thank you, Ron, Neville," Harry then turned to the other two boys, who were now leaning against their compartment door, panting heavily. Without them, he might as well have shared poor Draco's fate right now.

"No problem, dude," Ron quickly waved his hand. "We would've been in big trouble if you hadn't woken up. Where did you learn to use a sword like that by the way?"

"My guardian taught me not long ago," Harry simply shrugged. "I practice it mostly as an exercise."

"It's amazing," Neville murmured. "If only I could fight like that..."

"Harry!" From inside the compartment, Hermione suddenly dashed out, grabbed Harry's empty hand and looked at him with eyes full of worry. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere? That was so reckless, fighting like that. If the professors know about this..."

"Give him a break, Hermione," Ron interrupted her. "Those brats started it first. Also, Harry has just saved you. Can you cut him some slacks?"

"Ah, that's..." at Ron's words, Hermione looked down bashfully, blushing. "I'm sorry, Harry. But it can really got you into trouble, you know..."

"I will be fine, Hermione," patted the girl's shoulder, Harry then turned to Ron and Neville while pointing to the unconscious bodies on the ground. "Guys, I think we should get those out of the way before getting anymore attention."

That was the truth, their little scene from earlier had made all the students sitting in nearby compartments to peek out of their doors to see what happened.

_That's it. With this there's no doubt that I'm going to be even more famous..._ Harry sighed deeply as he, together with Ron and Neville, dragged the fainted three along the hallway back to their compartment.

**End of Chapter 4.**


	5. Chapter 5: Sorting Ceremony

_**Author's note: **_

**Chapter 5 is out. I'm sorry for the delay, but it's finally here.**

**Once again, thank you all for your reviews, critiques and ideas. You gave me a lot to think about.**

**There was nothing much to say about this chapter. The Sorting Ceremony happened, together with some new pieces of Shirou's memory, and that's about it.**

**Also, I will just give you guys a head up: Harry's dreams, which are Shirou's memories, started out like in the canon FSN. However, I will be making up a lot of them later on into the story, especially the parts after the Grail War, his time at Clock Tower with Rin and Saber, and his last war in which he was betrayed and killed.**

**That's all for now, please enjoy.**

* * *

After the small incident between Harry's group and Draco's, everything started to get back on its normal track. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville had spent the entire afternoon talking to each other. At first, right after the boys finished dragging three unconscious bodies away and returned to their own compartment, Harry had had to face the trouble of Hermione asking him where he got the bamboo sword from.

It wasn't like he didn't expect it coming though; despite the two of them hadn't being together for long, Harry could see that his friend was a sharp and observant girl. Therefore, he had already prepared the answer for that question should it come up.

"I always have it ready in my trunk," said Harry while keeping his poker face. "I sneaked it out when you guys were being occupied by those mini trolls."

Upon hearing his explanation, Ron and Neville appeared to be satisfied and didn't push the issue. Hermione was still eyeing him suspiciously for awhile however, but the girl didn't say anything in the end either. After all, Harry's trunk was right beneath his seat, and in the middle of all that commotion, no one could have paid enough attention to see what he was actually doing.

After that, the four of them started talking about all sort of thing. Hermione had gone on and on about the new spells and books that she had read beforehand while Neville desperately listening to the girl, trying whatever it took to give himself a good start at Hogwarts. However, as Harry could see from the round-faced boy's expression, he wasn't enjoying what he was hearing at all.

Luckily, Harry was able to find some distractions when Ron pulled out a set of Wizarding Chess from his trunk and invited Harry to join in. After hearing the red head explain the rules, which wasn't really different from Muggle chess, the two of them started to play. Obviously, since Harry had next to none experience in chess, he was crushed mercilessly. Even so, he had to admit that it was interesting watching the pieces came alive and started fighting each other.

"Don't be too sad. You will get better with practice," Ron said playfully while getting his third checkmate with his Knight.

"I doubt that I'd ever be as good as you," Harry shrugged. "Though I agree with you that this is kind of fun."

"Of course it is," the red head boy beamed up hearing Harry's comment. At the same time, Hermione had finally stopped talking much to Neville's relief. The girl then turned over and asked Ron.

"Do you know when we will arrive to Hogwarts?"

"No, I don't," the boy shook his head slightly. "But I think we are almost there anyway, it's already dark outside."

"Let me go find the conductor and ask then," said Hermione while standing up. "I'll be right back," she then quickly got out of the compartment.

"You okay, Neville?" Asked Harry in a concerning voice seeing the boy's strange expression.

"I…I think so," Neville nodded slightly, murmuring with hollow looks in his eyes. "I think I've just consumed the entire first year's knowledge already…"

Ron burst into laughter hearing the poor boy.

"Don't laugh at him Ron," said Harry even though he was also holding back a smile, himself. "Well, that's just how Hermione is. You will have to get used to it if you get sorted into the same house as her."

"I don't know if I really want that," Neville sighed.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, Hermione finally came back and announce that they will arrive at Hogsmade Station soon, and told all of them to get changed. She also brought back Neville's missing toad, which was found hiding in the female's toilet. Seeing his pet, he immediately took it from the girl's hand while thanking her none stop, which made Hermione blush awkwardly for a moment.

After the train had stopped, all of the students started squeezing out of their compartment to get down to the platform. Harry's group was no exception. The four of them left their luggage back as instructed before going out and tried making their ways through the hallway full of people, holding onto each other's robe hem with Harry taking the lead. Obviously, in his opinion, it really couldn't be called a pleasant moment.

Finally, after awhile, they were able to get out of the train. Harry quickly took a look at his surrounding before return his gaze toward a giant man who was now holding an oil lamp in his hand and calling out for the first year student to follow him.

"Ow are ya, 'arry?" The man suddenly asked as Harry and his group came closer.

"Erm… I'm sorry. But who are you?" He asked hesitantly while trying to search through his memory to see if they have met before, but the search came out blank.

"Ah, right, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of 'ogwarts," Hagrid answer with a smile, which could only be seen on his eyes, since his mouth was already covered by the thickest beard that Harry had ever seen.

"It's alright if ya don't remember me," the man continued as he patted Harry's shoulder and almost made him fall face first onto the ground. "I'm a friend of Lily and James. And the last time I see ya, ya was still just a baby," He then paused a little. "But where were ya for the last month? I was ordered by professor Dumbledore to pick ya up at the Dursleys, but ya weren't there anymore. I was so worried."

"That's a long story, Mr. Rubeus. And I believe that all of us first year are still waiting for you to lead us to Hogwarts," Harry answered, a bit of coldness crept into his voice. He was annoyed a little at the fact that the man whom he just met for the first time (at least in his memory) had already asked him the question that he had got to hear quite frequently.

"Eh? Oh Ya're right. I almost forgot," Hagrid scratched his head with his unnaturally large hand, looking a bit embarrassed. "I guess we should 'urry then," he said and was about to go ahead. However, the giant stopped, finally notice the stares Hermione, Ron and Neville were giving him.

"I see that ya've made friends," he said happily.

"I'm Ron Weasley," the red head boy was the first to introduce himself. From the way his legs were shaking, Harry could tell that he was scared.

_Still better than Neville… _He added silently after noticing how pale the round-faced boy was.

"Another Weasley, eh?" Hagrid laughed out loud. "I will let you know that I've spent 'alf of my life chasing your twin brothers out of the Forbidden Forest. But never mind that. So who are you two?"

"I'm Hermione Granger," seeing how friendly Hagrid was, Hermione had finally muttered enough courage and spoke up. "And this is the first time we met, Mr. Rubeus."

"You guys can call me Hagrid," the giant waved his hand. "It's nice to meet ya, 'ermione. And who is this guy here?"

"Just introduce yourself, there's nothing to be scared you know," Harry whispered to a terrified Neville while patting his back in encouragement. "He's not that scary. Come on, Neville."

Gulping audibly, the poor boy then turned to look at Harry. And after receiving a slight nod from him, Neville finally started talking in a shaky voice. "I'm…I'm Neville…Lo…Longbottom, sir."

"Don't be scared," Hagrid smiled gently. "I'm not gonna eat ya, ya know. How is your grandma?"

"You…You know my grandma?" Neville peeked up in surprise.

"Sure I do," the giant nodded. "So how is she?"

"She…She's still very healthy, sir."

"Excuse me," Harry cut in before Hagrid could reply. "But don't we still have to get to Hogwarts for the opening ceremony? The students are all waiting for you."

"Ah, right, right. I'm sorry," said Hagrid as if he had just remembered about it. He then hastily came forward and start calling for the first year to follow him again.

After walking for about five minutes, they finally reached a huge lake. On its bank, there had already been many boats awaiting them. The students were then instructed by Hagrid to get on, four people per boat. All of them then started going across the lake, into a huge cave covered with many kinds of mosses and vines running along the walls and ceiling.

"Ya all are going to see Hogwarts for the first time now," said Hagrid as their boats came around a corner. The scene that appeared in front of them left the first year kids gasped in amazement taking their first looks at the most famous Wizarding School in the entire Britain. Around Harry, many surprised "Woah" can be heard as the castle slowly came into view.

"It's…What a spacious castle…" Next to him, Hermione murmured as her eyes widened in surprise, and Harry happened to agree. Zelretch's mansion was nothing compared to what was in front of him right that moment. That wasn't to say he prefer Hogwarts though. After all, the mansion was something that could be considered his first real home.

"I've heard of it from Fred and George, and even caught a glimpse of it on the Daily Prophet. But it's completely different seeing the real thing, eh?" Said Ron, while Neville nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, as their boat drew closer to the school, Harry felt a rush of strong smells, which was much more stronger and more intense than the inside of Ollivander's wand shop, forcefully invaded his nostrils and made him almost passed out. Fortunately, remembering what Zelretch had told him about how the school was filled with magic, Harry immediately activated his Magic Circuits, flooding them with prana then concentrated as he felt the smells gradually faded away. All of that only happened in a brief moment, so those from his group didn't notice at all.

_It's going to put a heavy strain on my Circuits to have them constantly turned on like that, _Harry grimaced. _I have to make sure to get used to the smells without using this much prana as soon as possible, maybe lessen them bit by bit would work…_

About ten minutes later, all of the first year got off their boats on the other side of the lake. Hagrid then led them toward the large front door of the castle and knocked on it twice. Almost immediately, the door opened and from inside came an old witch whom Harry recognized as Professor McGonagall in her dark green robe just like when he last saw her that morning.

"What took you so long, Hagrid?" She asked in a serious voice.

"Erm…It's just that I saw 'arry there…" Hagrid scratched his head.

"I see," McGonagall nodded, following the giant's gaze. "Now they are all here. You can leave them in my care. Thank you."

"You are welcome, professor," said Hagrid as he turned around and left.

"Now, all of you; follow me," the witch then started leading them into the castle. They were then left in a large empty room with high ceiling and were told to check their grooming once again before the Sorting Ceremony started. That once again raised a small commotion between the kids, wondering what they would have to do, in front of the whole school.

"The twin didn't tell me exactly what it is," Ron looked around nervously, telling it to whoever willing to listen. "But they said it was going to be painful…"

That statement made Neville paled, and his legs started shaking. On the contrary, Hermione didn't seem like she paid any attention to her surrounding at all. In fact, the girl was now busy listing all the spells that she had remembered during the summer, and deciding which one she should use later.

_I'm curious about that too, _thought Harry while listening to the conversations around. There were many guesses going on, but he doubted that any of those was correct. He couldn't help but wonder why those kids ' parents, those from pureblood or half-blood families, didn't tell them what to expect on their first night at school. For his part, while it was true that he was a bit nervous facing the unknown, in a deeper part of his mind, Harry found himself to be excited to start the life that he belonged to, the life that had been kept from him for the past ten years.

All of a sudden, from the back of the room, a loud yelp from one of the first year pulled Harry out of his thought, swiftly turned around and ready to pull out both of his wands, which were now being securely hidden in the robe sleeves. However, he froze mid way after seeing what was happening. From the wall behind them, a dozen of _ghosts_ were slowly passing through, chatting with each other about some Peeves without being aware of the kids' presences. At this point, almost everybody had turned their head around, and once again, shocked gasps could be heard throughout the crowd. Harry, despite having already heard about the ghosts from Zelretch, was still a bit surprised from seeing them with his own eyes.

Finally, one of the passing by ghosts had noticed the stares of the kids. He turned his amused gaze at them and smiled brightly.

"Hello, are you guys first year students?" The ghost asked happily, then continued even though no one answered his question. "I'm Fat Friar, the ghost of Hufflepuff. I'm looking forward to see some of you in my house this year."

With that, he once again started drifting away into the opposite wall together with the rest of the ghosts. The kids' stares followed them until they had all disappeared. Almost immediately, the door that professor McGonagall went through earlier opened loudly, startling the first years and made some of them jumped in surprise.

"Attention," the old witch had returned and was now signaling them to follow her. "Let's move to the Great Hall so we can start the Sorting Ceremony."

One line after another, the first year kids made their ways into the Great Hall. After going through the door, Harry could certainly feel the stare of all the other students as well as the teachers on them. Taking a quick look around, he was quickly fascinated by how big and spacious the hall was. There were four long tables lined up neatly on his left side, each for each of the House, while another one was placed on his right for the professors, together with thousands and thousands of candles floating in mid air, putting the entire hall in a beautiful illuminating magical light that Harry hadn't seen anywhere else. But he was most surprised with the ceiling. It looked like there was none, and the hall was connected with the sky. Hundreds of stars were twinkling and shining brightly above his head. Harry just couldn't bring himself to look down until Hermione whispered into his ear from behind.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I've read about it in Hogwarts – A History," the girl murmured softly, obviously impressed by what she had seen.

"Really?" Harry looked at her and chuckled. "I must've missed that part when I skimmed through the book," he then quickly added after seeing the slight frown on her face. "I had a lot of cleaning around to do so I couldn't read them all seriously. But I assure you that I've read some other books about Charms so how about we talk about that later?"

Hearing his answer, Hermione sighed, but then she perked up and nodded with a smile.

After giving his friend a smile back, Harry turned his attention back to professor McGonagall, who had gone and brought back a tall chair and an old wizard pointy hat. She then placed it on the chair, and to Harry and many others' surprise, from the middle of the hat, something like a mouth opened up, and it started to sing a song that Harry realized was about each of the House's strong point. They were exactly the same as what his group described on the train earlier.

When the song ended, professor McGonagall started calling the first year students one by one from the long list in her hands. They all came up in front of her, sat into the chair and put the hat, which was called the Sorting Hat, on. After a short while, it will announce for the entire Great Hall to know which House that that student was sorted into. Harry chuckled softly, hearing Ron going on and on about how he would surely get Fred and George back for tricking him.

"POTTER HARRY," hearing his name called, he quickly made his way toward the old witch and put on the hat, all the while trying to ignore all the whispering around him that was caused by the mention of his name.

"Alright, Mr. Potter. Welcome to Hogwarts," right after the Sorting Hat covered his eyes, Harry heard its voice started talking to him. And almost immediately after, he could feel the familiar sensation that Zelretch showed him the day before when someone tried to invade his mind. Luckily, with his Magic Circuits already activated, there was no way for such spell to get through his mental barrier. However, the Hat's power was almost as strong as Zelretch's, plus the fact that he had been keeping his Circuits up for awhile, Harry was having a hard time to keep on sending more prana.

_Get out of my head, _gritting his teeth; he let that thought slipped out of the barrier.

"Oh ho, a natural Occlumens? The Hat asked in an amused tone. "Now that's a rare talent. But I can't get you sorted if you keep me out like this."

_I don't know what's that Occlumens you are talking about, _thought Harry angrily. _Just stay out of my head._

"And why is that? Is there something in there that you don't want others to see? If that's the case, you can trust me. I never tell anyone about what I see in students' minds, even if the Headmaster himself asked."

_And why do I have to trust you on that? You just tried to invade my mind without permission._

"I know, and I apologize for that," the Hat sighed. "But this didn't happen a lot, you know. I swear on my pride of a Sorting Hat that what I said was true. And you know it too, right? If you keep this up then it's not going to get us anywhere."

Taking a moment to consider about what he just heard, Harry had to admit that he had no other choice. Either letting the Hat take a peek into his mind or go home. Surely he didn't want to have to go back on day one.

_Fine, _he finally shrugged in resignation. _But let me tell you this. It's true that there's something that I don't want others to see. And even more than that, there is something that I myself don't know about in my mind. I also don't know if that's something that I want to see now or not, so tread carefully. Once you get what you need, please leave. _He admitted. Of course Harry still wanted to find out more about his previous life, but there was a good chance that the Hat would see and told him about something unpleasant like his death again. And getting all sick from those terrible sensations in front of the whole school on his first day wasn't an ideal situation that Harry wish to find himself in.

"Got it. Now just let me in. I'll be careful."

_Just a moment. I can't let the barrier collapse all at once, _he then added after remembering about something else. _And please make it quick. I can't afford to lower it for too long. I'm very sensitive to the magic surrounding this place, and it cause me bad headache if I don't have the barrier up."_

"That's odd. This is the first time I've ever heard about such condition," murmured the Hat, clearly interested in what Harry just said. "But never mind, we are taking too much time. Let's get started on the Sorting first."

_Alright, _Harry then started to withdraw his prana from the Circuits little by little. As soon as he did that, the smells began to come back and he could sense a headache coming. _It's down._

"Okay, you can put the barrier back on," a few seconds and several lighting quick memory flashes later, the Hat finally finished with its trip to Harry's mind. Right on its signal, he instantly flooded his Magic Circuits with prana again, and the headache was pushed away.

_That was quick, _thought Harry in amazement. _And I couldn't make out anything I saw either, unlike before…_

"It's obvious that you couldn't since I didn't use Legilimency," the Hat chuckled. "I have my own method to view memories and pick out the desired traits."

_That's nice. So what were you able to pick out from inside my mind?_

"Ah. We will get to that shortly. I have something that I want to ask you first. Of course you won't have to answer if you don't want to."

_Well… _Harry hesitated. From what he understood, the Hat had already saw all of his memories, included the ones from his previous life. So it was possible that it knew his other name as well as whom he used to be. _I will answer what I can._

"Very well, then answer me this. Which House do you wish to be sorted into? That's the only thing worth asking."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the question. _You aren't gonna ask about the memories?_

"Do I even need to ask?" The Hat replied. "I saw _all_ of your memories. Including the part where that Zelretch person explained it, so I know what they are. One word of advice though,_ don't_ ask me who you really were. I know you want to, but it's pointless unless you find out yourself. Even if you get the knowledge about it now, it just won't work out if all the memory pieces haven't come together."

_I don't really get what you are saying. But it doesn't look like you will tell me anyway._

"Frankly, I will tell if you ask me. They are yours after all. But as I said, it's pointless. You can ask that guardian of yours if you want," said the Hat. "If he told you otherwise, which I'm sure he won't, then you could always come look for me in the Headmaster's office in case you still want to know."

_I will keep that in mind, _Harry nodded. He had decided to put that issue aside for the moment, at least until he could confirm with Zelretch about what he had just learned. _For your earlier question, I really don't have any preference. You can put me anywhere, really."_

"I expected as much," it laughed. "To be honest, you are qualified for three out of four houses, which are Griffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. However, based on what I saw, you will have the best starting point in GRIFFINDOR!"

After the Hat announced the final result for the entire Great Hall to hear, Harry smiled slightly while putting it back onto the chair.

"Thank you," he murmured, but there was no respond. Harry then walked over to the Griffindor table, where all of its residences were now standing up and clapping loudly, some even jumped in joy while the Weasley twin dancing around singing their own newly composed song:

"We've got Harry Potter. We've got Harry Potter."

"Welcome, Harry," Percy Weasley quickly came over and shook his hand as he approached the table. "I have to admit, that was the first time I've seen the Hat took that long to sort someone."

"Well, we did a lot of talking," Harry took his hand and smiled. "Mostly because it wanted to know which House I want to be sorted in."

"And you choose Griffindor?" Asked Percy with obvious pride on his face.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure until just now. But I'm happy to be here," he answered. _Mainly because it said that this would be my best starting point though, _Harry added silently.

The rest of the Sorting Ceremony passed smoothly. And to Harry's surprise, Ron, Hermione, and even Neville got into Griffindor. In Ron's case, he could see all of the red head's brothers here, so maybe it was a family trait or tradition. He wasn't too sure about the other two, but with what the Hat had shown him earlier, Harry doubted that it would make any mistake, so there might just be some hidden courage buried somewhere within them that were waiting to be discovered.

Finally, after the last kid had been sorted, professor McGonagall rolled up the long list and put away the Hat. Then it was time for the Headmaster's speech (Harry could vaguely remember that he said something about the Forbidden Forest and that the corridor on the third floor was off limit). And when they finished singing the school's song, it was time for the opening feast.

Harry was deeply impressed with the way foods just appear out of nowhere into the plates. He couldn't help but wonder about the mechanic behind it as well as the chefs who made all those. During the meal, he once again took a look around the entire Great Hall, only to see students were too busy eating or talking to each other. However, when he turned his eyes toward the teachers' table, Harry noticed that several of them were now staring at him. On the big chair that was at least twice of the normal size was Hagrid, who was now waving his huge hand and smiled happily as their eyes met. And on the center of the table, the Headmaster – Professor Dumbledore as Harry remembered hearing about from the conversations around him – was now observe him carefully, but the old wizard also raised his glass and smiled gently at him.

Looking away from the Headmaster, Harry continued looking along the table. And in the end, he saw another man who was now looking at him intensely. As their gaze collided, Harry suddenly felt the sensation of something tried to pierce through his mental barrier once again. There wasn't much power behind the attack, but he was almost exhausted from defending against the Hat earlier. This time, Harry could feel a sharp pain inside his brain and quickly looked downward, massaging his forehead and let out a painful grunt.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Next to him, Hermione asked. Her voice filled with concern.

"I'm…I'm fine. Just a little headache. Maybe I've slept too much today," he shook his head, trying to clear it up a little, then gave the girl a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. By the way, do you know who that professor is? The one with black greasy hair."

"That's professor Snape, he teaches Potion," it was Percy, who was sitting on the other side of Hermione, answered.

"Ah I see," Harry nodded and then pretended to resume eating. _Did he just try to invade my mind? Why did he do that? _ He wondered. This had become more complicated, in just an evening; there had already two attempts to view his thoughts. Harry didn't know professor Snape's purpose when he did so. But nevertheless, he had to start working on a way to improve his mental defense, in case anything like this happened again. There were two options at the moment, either trying to get used to the magic filled atmosphere around Hogwarts to reduce the load on his Magic Circuits and prana reserve, or figuring out a way to increase his prana capacity. Of course he could do both, but this wasn't a time to be greedy. With all the mind attacks, it was better for him to find the more efficient way and stick with it until things got better.

_It isn't like I have a choice, is it? _Thought Harry sarcastically as he realized that he didn't even know how the later could be done. That left him with the other selection. After deciding on his current objective, Harry immediately lowered the amount of prana in his Circuits a little. As an result, the mixture of smells instantly came back, though it was actually bearable and wasn't able to cause him a headache or make him nauseous.

_Good, _Harry noted in satisfaction. _Once I get used to this, I will lower it again and again. Hopefully this will work out._

About one hour later, the opening party finally finished. Harry and Hermione both got up and followed Percy, together with all of the Griffindor first year, to get back to their dorm. He was too drained today to even trying to take a look at the castle's interior. Right after getting into their common room, Harry said goodnight to Hermione, then came up to the boy's bedroom, threw himself onto the bed that was assigned for him and fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

"_Good morning-senpai," a familiar girl's voice called to him in his sleep._

_Harry slowly sit up and rubbed his eyes. After his vision cleared, he realized that they were now inside of the shed where Saber asked if he was her Master several dreams ago. However, in front of him now was another girl with long purple hair and beautiful, gentle face. She was now smiling at him. Her smile, together with the morning sunlight shining through the window created a mesmerizing angelic scene that left Harry stunned for several seconds before coming back to his sense and greeted the girl._

"_Good morning, Sakura," he said. "I fell asleep in here again last night, didn't I?"_

"_Indeed you did," Sakura replied. She was now wearing a scolding face which didn't really suit her. "You can catch a cold in here, you know? And don't let Fujimura-sensei find out that you are here. She's not going to like it."_

"_Right…" Harry let out a huge yawn. However, an even more important problem had appeared in his mind._

"_Oh my," he sprang up, feeling a little dizzy from the sudden movement. "I have to prepare breakfast today._

"_It's okay senpai," once again the girl smiled brightly. "You just go and wash your face; it's not nice to let Fujimura-sensei see you like this. I'll help you with the meal."_

"_Ah… Erm… Okay, thank you, Sakura," Harry scratched his head in embarrassment._

"_You are welcome," said Sakura cheerfully before turning back and went out of the shed, leaving him behind staring at her back and her silky purple hair until she disappeared into the main building._

_The scene shifted._

_He was rushing up the stair of a tall building in Shinto, his lungs wanna burst from all the running and the lack of oxygen is making his muscles hurt and his mind going blank. But Harry couldn't stop; he knew that he got to get to the rooftop as soon as possible. Saber was there, she was fighting Servant Rider. That Servant had purposely lured Saber up, so there must be some kind of trap that had been set prior to their arrival._

I can't let Saber fight alone, _the thought appeared in Harry's mind. He didn't know what good could he do against Rider, and possibly her hiding Master too. But he just refused to leave his Servant alone. _I'm her Master. I have the responsibility to take care of her.

_However, when he was finally taking the last few steps approaching the rooftop door, Harry could feel a massive blast of wind pushed him back several step followed by a huge amount of prana which was now being released._

"_SABER!" He screamed, knowing what was happening and that he was too late. Whatever trap Rider had set up there, it had forced Saber to use her Noble Phantasm. Just a moment later, a blinding white light engulfed the entire area. It then disappeared as quickly as it came._

"_Saber, are you alright?" Asked frantically as he stormed through the door, Harry saw his blond Servant standing alone in the middle of the roof, with Rider nowhere to be found. Her prana signal has also disappeared, and that could only be one thing: Servant Rider had been annihilated._

_But that didn't mean he could be relieved. In front of him, the proud knight had collapsed; her small figure hit the cold floor like a puppet whose strings were cut off._

* * *

"Saber!" Harry screamed out loud as he sprang up in a sitting position and searched around frantically, but the blond Servant was nowhere to be found. After a few seconds, he realized that he was in his own bed inside the boy's bedroom. His body was now covered in cold sweat and both of his hands were shaking badly.

"What is that? Is everything okay, Harry?" From the next bed, Ron burst up and asked, clearly startled. Everyone else in the room was also woken up as well.

"Eh…Ah… It's nothing. I'm sorry guys, just go back to sleep," Harry quickly apologized while trying to calm down. "It was… just a bad nightmare, that's all…"

"Are you sure?" From one of the bed came Neville's worried voice. "Why didn't you take the potion before going to bed?"

"I…I was too tired. And I didn't think it would be this bad either. It's still early, just go back to bed, okay?"

His roommates all murmured something before lying back down. Harry, on the other hand, had already wide awake. He had gotten used to waking up early for skills training from the time living with Zelretch.

Quietly slipped out of bed, he took a glance outside while quickly change into his track suit, then reached into his trunk and secretly projected a bamboo sword. It was about five in the morning now, perfect time for some exercises. There was no reason for him to quit that habit even if he was now at Hogwarts instead of the mansion.

Fortunately, the castle's door was unlocked. Harry made his way to the large front yard and started some simple warm up moves. After over a month of physical training, there wasn't much visible improvement in his physique, as from the look of the others, he was still a thin boy. However, his strength, speed and stamina had become quite better.

Once finished warming up, Harry started to run around the yard, settling with his comfortable pace.

_I wonder what happened to Saber, _thought the boy, remembering about last night's dream. _I don't think she's dead. But I can't be sure…_

For the first time ever, Harry found himself regretting waking up too early. Just a little more and he could've found out what happened to his other self's Servant. For some reason, he couldn't help but feeling concerned about the blond knight. The sight of her falling down made his chest tightened a little every time he tried to picture it.

_What's wrong with me? _Harry sighed. _That happened a life time ago already. Why am I getting so worked up seeing her hurt?_

Stopping after two rounds, the boy then began his normal routine consisting of sit-up, push-up and squats to train his muscles. Finally, Harry took out his sword and practiced all the moves that Zelretch had taught him over the last month. However, without a proper opponent, he couldn't really confirm how much he had improved.

_And there was a purple haired girl… _His thoughts started wandering away again. _Who is she? Is she also related to me and magecraft somehow? She looks like a normal person though…_

There was no denying that Sakura's appearance had raised a nostalgic feeling inside of him. But there was no further clue that helped Harry to figure out more about her, so there was nothing he could do but dropping the subject for the time being.

About half an hour later, the boy decided to wrap up his training and got back inside the castle. In truth, he also wanted to practice his magic as well, but since Harry hadn't attended any class, thus wouldn't be able to explain how he knew the spells, he couldn't risk being found out about doing magic illegally outside of school.

_Well, it's time to take a shower before heading back down for breakfast, _thought Harry as he stepped inside the Griffindor's empty common room

* * *

Dumbledore was now standing behind his office's window, looking down at the school's yard. This morning, just like any other, he had woken up early in order to prepare for the day's work. Of course, that was after he finished his hot cocoa mug that had been brought to him by one of the house elf.

However, while walking around his office, enjoying the drink, the old wizard was able to see something totally unexpected: There was someone in the front yard. And even more surprising, that 'someone' was actually Harry Potter, a.k.a The-Boy-Who-Lived.

_Is he doing physical training? _ Wondering the Headmaster as he observed the boy. The fact that Harry was doing those exercises surprised him quite a bit. Since the Wizarding World only have one sport – Quidditch, while almost every other thing could be done with magic, it wasn't really common for its residences to get into such training, with the only two exceptions of professional Quidditch players and the Aurors.

_I should talk to the boy later, _Dumbledore decided. There were too many mysteries surrounding the Potters' son at the moment, and the old wizard hoped that he could clear up some of them before paying a visit to his supposed to be current guardian – Zelretch – in the afternoon.

After awhile, Harry finally finished with his training and came back inside. The Headmaster also left the window and sat down behind his desk, fingers crossed. Many unanswered questions were going through his head. And swear to his wand, Dumbledore hated information to be hidden from him.

_I will do what I can to figure this out as soon as possible, _he concluded with a heavy sigh.

**End of Chapter 5.**


	6. Chapter 6: First day at Hogwarts

_**Author's note:**_

**Here comes another chapter. This is a quick update to make up for the delay.**

**Thank you for all the reviews and comments, and thanks milamber83 for pointing out my typos.**

**There's nothing much to say, really, since I've answered the reviewers' question by PMs. So for now, please enjoy.**

* * *

Neville Longbottom was now having his first breakfast at Hogwarts. To be honest, as his relatives said, with his little to none magical talent, it wasn't such a surprise if he didn't get the letter at all. Therefore, to him, actually being able to study at this famous Magic school was a miracle. His uncle even bought him a new toad to celebrate the unbelievable news.

The problem was, from the day he was still a kid, Neville had been taught how great his parents were. And his relatives, especially grandma, had constantly compared him to them. They expect great things from the poor boy, only to be disappointed to find out that he didn't show any sign of magic at all, at least not until his uncle dropped him down from balcony. Somehow, he fell down to the yard, then bounced back unscathed.

On the arrival day of the Hogwarts letter, his grandma had called him to her room, taking out from her drawer an old wand and gave it to him. She also told him with a serious mixed with proud expression that Neville had never seen before.

"This is your father's wand," said the old witch solemnly. "Now that you are going to study at Hogwarts, you are going to need it. Don't shame your father and our family."

Now sitting at the Griffindor table, holding onto his wand, Neville felt that it was so out of tune, so foreign with him. But the boy had never actually casted any spell with it, so maybe that was just a matter of practicing.

_This belongs to my father, so it has to be the one that suited me the most, _he thought in silence. _Gran also said this was a powerful wand. She must know what is best for me, right?"_

Sighing heavily, Neville then took another piece of honey cake from the plate in front of him. He had purposely chosen a seat at the end of the table, far away from the others. Not that he didn't want to make friend, but rather, would anyone willing to be friend with someone as slow and forgetful like him?

Yesterday, on the Hogwarts Express, he was lucky enough to be able to sit in the same compartment as Harry Potter and his friend. Needless to say, the boy was shocked. He just couldn't bring himself to believe the thin boy sitting across from him was actually the infamous The-Boy-Who-Lived. Of course, the trademark lightning bolt scar on his forehead said otherwise. With all the fame he had, Neville had thought that he should be similar to that Draco Malfoy. Instead, Harry was so modest and mature, not to mention easy to get close. The girl that came in with him as well, despite her bossy attitude, she was a nice girl, who helped him to find his missing frog. Not that the boy wanted to go through another lecture like the one on the train yesterday though.

_Maybe they won't mind being friend with me? _He wondered. They had had a wonderful time talking and playing with each other before arriving to Hogsmeade station, with only a bit of interruption when Malfoy and his friends barged into their compartment. But that didn't bother Neville one bit, because that little event helped him see another side of Harry.

_He is so brave and confident, _the boy sighed again remembering about the fight yesterday, where The-Boy-Who-Lived displayed an unbelievable sword skill. _Right, completely opposite of me…_

That wasn't all, Neville was very curious when finding out the Dreamless Sleeping Potion that Harry had to take before sleeping. That curiosity soon changed into worry after this morning. Apparently, Harry had forgotten to drink his potion last night, and was forcefully woken awake by what seemed like a horrible nightmare, yelling some kind of name that Neville vaguely heard as 'Saber' or something like that. Upon waking up, even though it was still dark, he could still see the boy's hands trembling uncontrollably. Harry then didn't come back to sleep, but changed into a Muggle tracksuit and got out of the room with his bamboo sword instead, which Neville guessed was for some kind of morning practice.

_What does Saber mean? _He wondered. _It sounds like some kind of nickname._

Shaking his head to clear his head, Neville finally decided that it wasn't his business and there was no use thinking about such thing.

Getting the class schedule from professor McGonagall, he took a quick look at it before going back to the Griffindor tower to prepare for his first school day with a mixed feeling of excitement, curious and a bit terrified.

* * *

"Harry," hearing someone calling his name, Harry turned around as he was about to step out through the portrait guarding the Griffindor tower.

"You were up early," behind him, Hermione had just got down from the girl's bedroom. She greeted him with a smile. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"It was good," Harry answer immediately before realizing that he had just told a lie without meaning to. The boy quickly corrected, scratching the back of his head. "Actually not, sorry, I just had a nightmare."

"You didn't drink your potion?" Hermione frowned. "How are you feeling? Are you sure you can attend classes today?"

"I'm fine, don't worry. I've gotten used to them," he reassured her. "Also, back at home, I've been waking up early for morning exercises so there is no problem with that either."

"Are you sure?... Well, if you feel sick or anything, just tell the professors, okay?"

"You got it," Harry nodded as the two of them got out of the common room and started making their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. "How about you? Looks like you are in a good mood."

"So you can tell?" Asked Hermione as a bright smile formed on her lips. "Today is the first school day. I'm so excited to learn all about magic."

"Same here," the boy also smiled at his friend's enthusiasm, and decided that this was a good time as any to talk about some books with her, just like he promised in the letter. "Hey, do you remember that part in Hogwarts – A History where…"

That conversation lasted all the way into the Great Hall, Harry was once again deeply impressed by how much Hermione had read and how many details she could remember. They were discussing about a book that they had both read, but the amount of information the girl could tell him is far greater than what he remembered from his own reading.

Finally, they arrived at the Griffindor table next to Ron and started eating breakfast. The red head greeted them as they sat down.

"Good morning," he said after gulping down a mouthful of pumpkin pie. "Harry, how are you? You woke up quite early this morning."

"Yeah, sorry for interrupting you guys' sleep," Harry apologized. "And thanks, I'm good. I'm used to getting up early so that's not a big deal."

"You really should slow down a little," grimacing, Hermione then told Ron after seeing the red head once again started to chomp down all the food on his plate. "It's not healthy to eat that way."

"But I'm 'ungry," the boy protested, only looking up enough to spare a glance at her. Harry, on the other hand, agreed with the girl.

"But the food isn't going to run away, is it?" He said, frowning a little as the sight of his housemate burying his face into the plate in a Dudley-style, together with the magic smells which had increased its intensity a bit due to him lowering his prana supply. Harry then quickly looked away as he had started feeling a little nauseous. "Where's Neville anyway?"

"Over there," finally stopped eating, Ron pointed his thumb toward the end of the table.

"Why don't we invite him to sit with us?" Asked Hermione as she stood up, but Harry pulled her back down.

"It seems like he's deep in thoughts at the moment," he said. "Just leave him alone for now. We will sit with him at lunch time, okay?"

Both of his housemates nodded in unison.

After they had done, professor McGonagall started going along the long table and distributed the class schedule sheets to each of her House's member.

"Let's see," Hermione mumbled, staring at her own sheet. "Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology. After lunch break, there are double Potions and History of Magic."

"Well, let's get to it then," Harry shrugged and stood up. His friend followed suit. All of them then got back to the Griffindor tower before going to classes.

* * *

Harry's first Charms class went quite smoothly. Professor Flitwick had taught them the Levitation Charm. And as the Charms teacher claimed, that could be a bit hard for first timer. But to his surprise (and Harry's unsurprise), after just fifteen minutes, Hermione had successfully lifted the practice feather off of her table and made it hover in mid air. Harry, who had had previous experience with casting spell, also managed to do it before the class ended. As a result, both of them were freed from that day's homework.

"You guys could've helped me out too, you know," Ron complained as the three of them, plus Neville, walked out of the classroom. The round-faced boy couldn't even make his feather move an inch, and there was a clear disappointed look on his face.

"We did, Ron," Hermione retorted impatiently. "I've already told you the wand movements and the correct way to read the incantation. The rest is up to you."

Blushing a little, the red head opened his mouth, trying to say something, but got interrupted by a voice that they could all recognize, and hated.

"Well, well, well," Draco Malfoy and his two lackeys were walking toward them from two classrooms away. "The infamous Potter and his small support group."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry coldly asked. He didn't know whatever that brat was planning, but it was better not to cause a commotion in the middle of the hallway.

"I just want to give you another chance to join us, you know," an ugly grin crept onto Malfoy's face as he took a scornful look at the rest of Harry's group. "Why hang out with them when you have a chance with true pureblood friends like us."

"Let's go, guys," before Harry could answer, Hermione spoke up from behind him. "We don't need to waste our time here with them."

"Again? Who give you the right to speak, you filthy Mud blood?" The blond brat asked, seeing the girl.

"Don't insult her!" Ron growled. His face now had changed from an embarrassing blush to a deep red shade of anger. "She is worth hundreds times more than you, Malfoy."

"And what do you know about anything's value, Ronald?" Malfoy burst into laughter. "Your Blood Traitor family must have worked all year just to give you second hand stuff like that eh?"

"Shut your trap, Malfoy," this time, it was Harry who stepped forward with a threatening glare. His Phoenix wand raised, pointing at the blond's face. "One more insult, and you will regret it. Remember who kicked your sorry ass on the train?"

That sentence worked, the blond flinched upon hearing about their first encounter. However, he managed to get himself together and replied with a much smaller grin.

"That was just luck, Potter. Don't let it get to your head. Just try to attack me now then face detention later."

"He's right, this isn't worth it, Harry," Hermione whispered into Harry's ear. "Let's get out of here. We are going to be late for the next class."

"Oh running away so soon? So even the famous Potter is only like that eh? It's not like you can expect better from the one who hang out with a Mud bl…"

Suddenly, even before anyone managed to react, Malfoy's sentence was cut off midway by a fist sent straight to his jaw, making him fell flat on his back. Even more surprising, it was actually Ron who dashed forward and delivered the blow. Immediately, the blond's two mini trolls stepped forward and kicked the red head, then pinned him to the ground.

Not being able to stand around not doing anything any longer, Harry also rushed forward, regretting not reacting sooner. He aimed his attack at Goyle in order to free Ron's head and arms.

"Stop right there," once again they were interrupted. "All of you stand up where you are," turning around, Harry saw professor McGonagall walking toward them with a furious expression. The mini trolls hastily release Ron, who then quickly stood up and returned to Harry's side, his lips were bleeding.

"Can anyone explain for me what's happening here?" The old witch growled while throwing sharp glares at the kids. "Brawling in the middle of the hallway. What are you thinking?"

"Potter threatened me with his wand and Weasley attacked me first, I didn't do anything," said Malfoy while pointing his finger at Harry's group.

"Is that true? Mr. Potter? Mr. Weasley?" professor McGonagall looked down at them and asked in a scary tone.

"It was because Malfoy insulted Ron and Hermione, madam," Harry looked straight into her eyes.

"That…That's right," Ron nodded. "He called my family Blood Traitor, and Hermione a…a…Mud blood, professor."

"Is that the truth? Ms. Granger?" The witch turned to Hermione, and the girl nodded her head, confirming the story.

"That's unacceptable, Mr. Malfoy," she scolded the brat. "Please return to your classroom, I will have a talk with your Head of House later about a proper punishment."

With that, Malfoy and his lackeys turned around and left, all the while murmuring something that couldn't be heard.

"Now. Even if that was what happened, it's still not right to fight in public, or anywhere for that matter," McGonagall turned her glare at Harry and Ron. "Potter, it was lucky that you didn't cause any damage. But Weasley, I will take twenty points from Griffindor for what you did. Hopefully that will teach you to take better control of your temple next time. And you may want to see Madam Pomfrey, our school nurse. Now, get to class."

The red head was just about to retort before Harry grabbed his shoulder and shook his head.

"Not worth it, Ron," He murmured. "I know it's unfair. But don't let yourself receive a detention just because of those brats."

"But…"

"She's right, Ron," it was Hermione who spoke up. "That was so reckless of you."

Upon hearing her words, Ron's face once again flushed with anger.

"You mustn't say that, Hermione," Harry instantly said, and for the first time since the day they met, he found himself glaring at the girl, making her eyes widened in shock. "Ron didn't do it just for himself. He did it for you as well. No, it was mostly for you to be exact."

"For…For me?" She stuttered, still haven't been able to figure out what exactly did those words mean.

"Yes," Ron growled, wiping off the blood on his mouth. However, part of the red dots on his cheeks had returned to an embarrassed blush. "Who else would I do that for? I mean I was mad because he insulted my family too. But that word he used on you… I can't accept that. We are Griffindors; we have to look after our own. I… No, all of us wouldn't allow anyone to hurt you."

"And there you have it," Harry helped the boy finishing his speech with a big grin on his face.

"That…That's…" Hermione blushed deeply at the sudden turn of event. "I… Thank you, Ron. I'm sorry."

"Never mind that, you are welcome," the red head mumbled, his face had also turned into a crimson color. All of them then started going to their next class, but Harry couldn't help but notice that Neville hadn't said anything at all, and the round faced boy now looked even more troubled than before.

* * *

"Wow!" The entire class gasped in excitement as professor McGonagall turned herself into a cat as a demonstration of Transfiguration. It was a good breather to be able to witness such advanced magic for a change after having to listen to the witch about how important the subject was.

In the latter half of class time, the kids were each given a match which they were required to change it into a needle by the time the bell rang. The final result was quite predictable with Hermione succeeded in making her match into something that resembled a thin steel bar with pointy end, while Harry was only able to change its material.

"Potter, can you stay back for a bit?" Professor McGonagall told him after class had ended. "All of you go ahead to your next class."

"Erm… Is it about the commotion in the hallway earlier, professor? Harry asked hesitantly, wondering if she still wanted to punish him after all.

"No it's not," the witch frowned as she stood up. "Potter, the Headmaster wants to see you in his office. I've already informed your Herbology teacher about your absence. Now follow me."

The two of them then got out of the classroom and started going toward the Headmaster's office. On the way, Harry once again tried to lower his prana supply, but the smells became too overwhelming that it made him dizzy for a moment. The boy hastily returned his prana level to its previous state.

"Is there anything wrong, Potter," asked the professor, noticing his steps wobbled a little.

"Nothing, professor, it's just a little headache," the quickly lied.

"Are you okay? Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "I'm fine, thank you."

_I shouldn't be hasty in this, _he thought. _It could make me pass out if I'm not careful…_

Eyeing him curiously for awhile without saying anything, the witch then kept on leading the way. About ten minutes later, they finally arrived in front of a gargoyle statue. After reading the password, the two of them walked onto an ascending spiral staircase until facing a large wooden door. McGonagall then knocked on it twice.

"Professor Dumbledore, I brought Potter here upon your request."

"Thank you Minerva, you can leave now," An old man's voice came out from inside. "You can come in, Harry."

Harry opened the door and went inside as professor McGonagall turned around and left. He was now in a big room with many portraits hanging on the wall. And on the shelves in the back, there is countless numbers of weird silver tools which were now spinning around or making funny sounds.

"Sit down, Harry," from the big desk in the middle of the room, sat an old wizard with a pair of half-moon glasses, who was now telling Harry to sit down on one of the chair in front of him.

_He looks almost as old as Zelretch,_ was Harry's first impression of the Headmaster. They even gave of a somewhat similar aura of a humorous but powerful old guy. However, the boy could sense that underneath the bright mask, Dumbledore also wore a much more serious and worry expression, which was never seen on Zelretch. Maybe it was due to the pressure from his position as the Headmaster of a school filled with magical children, or was it because of the problem called Harry Potter?

"Good morning, Harry," the old wizard greeted him with a smile. "How was your first morning at Hogwarts?"

"It was good, sir," Harry replied. "I've never experienced anything like this."

"That's good," Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction. "Maybe you've already known me. I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of this school."

"Yes, I've seen you on a chocolate frog card on the train yesterday," the boy said, half joking.

"Ah, those. I also used to collect them, you know. But I traded them all for some candies," the Headmaster laughed. "And the train, right. I've heard of the little skirmish between you and young Mr. Malfoy's group, and about what happened in the hallway earlier as well."

Harry shifted himself uncomfortably hearing those words. "Am I in trouble because of that, sir?"

"No of course not. I've got eye witnesses of those events, and they all told me that you were provoked first. However, you may find it better to tell Mr. Weasley to control his temple and avoid the people that he doesn't like altogether."

"I will pass your words to him, sir," said Harry. "Is that what you want to talk to me about?"

"Not really," replied Dumbledore. "The main reason that I called you here is to ask why you left your relatives' house. It's not as simple as just tell them goodbye and walk away, Harry. It's a legal issue."

A flash of anger ran through Harry's mind as the memories of the Dursleys reappeared. However, he quickly dismissed it and snorted.

"Is it really? If the law was involved then why didn't they do anything for ten years when I was being bullied by those very same relatives?

"Bullied?" The Headmaster frowned. "I'm sure it wasn't so bad that you have to run away. After all, your aunt has the same blood flowing in her veins as your mother."

"Wasn't so bad?" The boy almost burst into laughter. "Sir, they used to beat me up senseless, or punish me for every little thing I did that annoyed them, no matter right or wrong. Their sons and his little gang used to chase me around the neighborhood and gang up on me just for fun. Oh and that's not all, I was locked away and left starved every time they are mad at me. If that wasn't so bad in your opinion, I don't think I can find anything that was."

Harry breathed heavily trying to calm himself down. He then added with a much calmer tone.

"I don't have any memory of my mother, but I'm sure that she wouldn't have mistreated her nephew like Mrs. Dursley did. Just by having the same blood in their veins doesn't make them similar at all."

The shocked look on Dumbledore's face, however, almost made Harry laugh out loud again. It seemed like the old man didn't expect what he just heard at all.

"No, it doesn't indeed," finally, he spoke up after a long moment of silence. But there was a clear trace of sadness in his voice and the twinkling light in his eyes had disappeared. "Harry, I'm very sorry for what you had to go through, since it was me who placed you on their doorstep ten years ago. But just as professor McGonagall had once told you. We did it because we believe that's the best choice available."

"Can you explain it to me, professor?" Harry asked. "I just can't find any good point that makes them suitable to be my guardian at all."

"I suppose I have to..." Dumbledore sighed. "But I've never intended to tell you this soon, Harry. You are still just a child."

"Maybe I am," Harry nodded. "But I believe that I've been prepared to know about my own story."

"I wish I wouldn't have to hear you say that sentence, at least for the next few years," the old wizard shook his head sadly. "If I'm not wrong, you've already know about the downfall of Voldermort and the...the death of your parents, right?"

Once again, Harry nodded indifferently without saying anything. The deaths of his family didn't stir up any notable emotion in him. He wanted to be sad and grief about that, but it was hard to do as he had no memory of them whatsoever.

"Do you know about the Death Eaters then?" Dumbledore asked, raising his eyebrow at the boy's lack of reaction, but decided not to ask about it.

"I don't, sir. What are they?"

"They are Voldermort's follower," the old man replied. "Together with their master, they plagued the Wizarding British with horror and fear. After the Dark Lord's defeat, all of them were enraged, especially with you, Harry."

"So in order to protect you," he continued. "I had to send you to the Dursleys, to Petunia to be exact, since she had the same blood as your mother. That was a bit of an ancient magic - the Blood Ward that used the blood from her and her sister. As long as you still call Number 4 - Privet Drive your home, no one with intention to do you harm can enter the house. That was the best way I could come up to protect you when you aren't at Hogwarts."

"But even that couldn't protect me from the Dursleys themselves," Harry murmured bitterly.

"I didn't expected things to turn out in such a terrible way. I deeply apologize for what you had to go through."

"But even if that was true. The ward should have gone down already, right?" The boy asked. "Right now, the mansion that I stayed at last month is what I considered my home."

"Unfortunately, yes," Dumbledore sighed deeply. "And because of that, we now have to find another way to protect you. Maybe assign you another guardian whom we can trust..."

"No," Harry flatly refused. "I've already had a guardian."

"He's not your legal guardian, Harry. And none of your parents' acquaintance seems to recognize the name Zelretch. He's not trustworthy."

"I trust him," the boy said. "So far, Zelretch had done a wonderful job. He provided me a home and, this may sounds a bit hard to believe, became my first friend ever. I don't think I can ask for anyone better than him."

"I'm happy to hear that," the Headmaster smiled gently. "However, our law won't allow it. In order to become your legal guardian, he needs to be registered with the Ministry of Magic. And it's best for the candidates if he or she has a reference from a credible source. In this case, that person is me, who took care of your issue ten years ago or the one who had raised you since then, the Dursleys."

_There's no way for them to take part in anything that involve me anymore, _Harry thought. _I don't really mind though. Maybe it's for the best._

That left him with only one option. Looking up at the old wizard, Harry was about to ask, but Dumbledore was faster than him.

"I know what you are going to say," he waved his hand. "But I'm afraid I can't do that. I don't know anything about that Zelretch person. Actually, I'm recommending the Weasleys or the Diggorys…"

"You did that without asking me first?" Immediately, the boy stood up angrily while slamming both hand onto the desk. Around him the portraits were shaking their heads and murmuring in disagreement but he ignored them. "It's about my guardian, and I don't even have a say in it?"

"I'm sorry," the old man apologized again. "We just don't have the time. If this is allowed to go on without me doing anything, you will then be appointed to a Wizarding family by the Ministry. At that rate you may have to be with some complete strangers. I would rather recommend someone that I know we can trust. The Diggorys aside, you've already met the Weasleys, right?"

Nodding dryly, Harry then forced himself to calm down despite his urge to project something to hurt the old man in front of him. But no good would come from that or throwing a fit in the Headmaster's office. Sitting back on his chair, he breathed deeply before saying.

"But what about Zelretch? Won't you at least give him a chance? If it's the protection method around the house you are worrying about. Then I can assure you that we have the best of the best at our place."

"That may be the case. However, I don't think that the Ministry will accept a foreigner to be your guardian," Dumbledore replied. "I will still come and meet him this afternoon though. But in case things didn't work out like you wanted, please let me try to protect you."

Gritting his teeth furiously, Harry knew that he was on the losing side. After all, he was still just an eleven years old kid, whose words held no value at all. Now even the Headmaster had refused to cooperate; the boy had seriously considered the option to abandon this altogether, comeback to the mansion and stay there, as he believed that the wards around that house was built by magecraft, thus couldn't be taken down by wizards and witches' magic.

_Nonsense, _Harry quickly shook his head. _I can't act like a sulking child like that. Even if they are going to assign me another guardian, that's only on paper. There must be some other ways to bargain my way around this._

"Alright, in the end it doesn't seem like I have a choice," finally looking up, the boy said. "Seeing that you are going to pay Zelretch a visit, I want you to assert the protection around the mansion as well. If it satisfies you, and I'm sure it will, then after being assigned to another guardian, I want to spend at least half of my vacation time there."

"Also, you can't keep Zelretch from seeing me, as well as let him have the final choice of which family is going to adopt me, be it Diggorys or Weasleys," he added. "If you don't agree to those terms, I will drop out of Hogwarts right away. What do you say, professor? And I assure you, that's not what I want to do. But if you force me then it's a different story."

From his seat, Harry grinned slightly seeing Dumbledore paled upon hearing his words. Obviously, having him dropped out of Hogwarts wasn't what the old wizard had in mind.

"Very well," picking himself together, the Headmaster answered tiredly. "I will seriously consider what you said after coming back from your house this afternoon. You can leave now."

"Thank you, professor," standing up, Harry said as he turned around and left the room without looking back.

* * *

Leaving the Headmaster's office, Harry decided it was best for him to come straight to the Great Hall for lunch as the class was almost over. On the way, he kept thinking about what just happened between him and Dumbledore.

_Am I doing the right thing? _The boy wondered. His mind was now filled with the meeting between him and Dumbledore. Of course, he had no doubt about what he wanted. But since the law was involved, there was no way for him to have Zelretch as his legal guardian, Harry knew as much. He was just wondering if those terms he stated earlier was enough for him to keep staying at the mansion peacefully, even if it was just for half the time.

Knowing Zelretch, the old man would probably agree with what he just did, except the dropping out of Hogwarts part. Nevertheless, the more Harry learned about magic, the more chance he would have when facing Voldermort, if the Dark Lord ever came back. After all, the boy did agree on all this combat oriented training just to prepare himself for that day should it really come.

_Also, there are still a lot of things about magecraft that I need to learn from him, as well as the mystery about my previous life, _thought Harry as he walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. However, to his surprise, he wasn't the first one there.

"Well, if that isn't Harry Potter," from the Slytherin table, a girly voice suddenly greeted him. "What are you doing here? The classes haven't ended yet."

"Who are you?" Asked Harry as his eyes widened, staring at the girl, completely caught off guard. He only vaguely remembered seeing her together with the rest of the first year in the Sorting Ceremony the day before.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass," she replied while playing with her blond hair. "We were both in the Ceremony yesterday, but it seems like you don't remember me, huh?"

"I…I'm sorry," the boy awkwardly apologized. "So why are you here at this time?"

"Hey, I asked that question first," Daphne grinned widely. But somehow, her expression was still cold and distant.

"I was called to the Headmaster's office," he answered, wondering where she was going with the conversation. "Then I went straight here seeing that it was too late to go to class anyway. You?"

"I just ditched History of Magic," she chuckled softly. "Seriously, that class made me all sleepy so I said I needed to go to the infirmary then snuck out here. Professor Binn didn't seem to care though."

"Aren't you something," Harry said jokingly. "Ditching class on your first day."

"Just wait until you are there. Let's see if you can still talk like that after hearing all the long-winded explanation about our history."

"Okay, we'll see about that," he smirked. _But maybe she's right. I wonder if I can stay awake for the entire class if that's the case…_

"By the way, what were you doing in the school yard this morning? I was up for my morning walk and I saw you doing something with your sword," the girl suddenly asked. Her question made Harry raised an eyebrow. He didn't know that there was anyone beside him who woke up that early.

"Physical exercise, that's my morning routine," the boy replied. "But maybe that's not what wizards and witches familiar with."

"Indeed," Daphne nodded while looking at him in a curious manner. "But why do you need to do that?"

"It's because…" His answer was cut off as the other students were now pouring into the Great Hall after classes had ended. He could see Ron, Hermione and Neville were coming to him while some of the Slytherin had come over and sit beside Daphne. Talking a quick glance at her, he saw the girl secretly gave him a wink before turning back to talk to her friends.

"Strange girl…" Harry murmured as in front of him, food had started to appear on the previously empty plates.

"What did you just say, Harry?" Next to him, Hermione asked as she sat down and put away her school bag. Ron also chose a seat on his other side while Neville settled next to the red head.

"Oh, nothing," he waved his hand. "I said I was hungry. That's all."

"Me too, I'm starving," said Ron who was now stuffing his own plate with as much food as it could hold. "So what did professor Dumbledore want to talk to you about?"

"He just wanted to clarify something about my current guardian," Harry shrugged. "Nothing important, they will talk directly this afternoon. And could you eat a bit slower, Ron? There's still plenty of time," he then grimaced at the red head's eating habit before looking away.

"Orry, just a 'oment…" Ron said before trying to swallow all the food in his mouth in one go.

"Seriously, you need to fix that," Hermione shook her head in resignation before turning to Harry. "You know, you've missed a very exciting lesson about magical plants. Professor Sprout is so knowledgeable, and her way of teaching is very easy to understand."

"Is that so? I need to make sure to come next time," Harry smiled at his friend's enthusiasm for study. But he then turned to a more serious problem. "Neville, why are you so down? You've been looking all sad since this morning."

Hearing his name called, Neville instantly tensed up for a moment before looking down at his feet and started mumbling.

"Be…Because I'm so useless…"

"What? Who told you that?" Ron's eyes shoot up from hearing those words. "Is it Malfoy? I will go over there right now and…"

"No, no it's not…" The round-faced boy frantically held his friend back while shaking his head. "No one said anything to me. But…" He then hesitated a little. "But you've all seen it, right? I couldn't even do a single spell in classes. Even my relatives considered me as a good-for-nothing. And then, in the…hallway…when you were fighting to protect Hermione, I…I was so down and scared and wasn't able to do anything..."

"And because of that you called yourself useless?" Asked Harry as he came over and patted the boy's back. "Don't be discouraged. This is only the first day, what if you weren't able to do spells properly at first? That's why we are here, right? To learn to do those things. Not everyone is a genius like Hermione, you know?"

"Yeah, look at me," Ron proudly pointed to himself while Hermione's face flushed a little. "I couldn't do any of those spells either, but I'm still happy."

"Right, that's just because you are too carefree," said Hermione, smiling. The girl then quickly switched to her serious mode. "But you need to study harder. It's not that hard when you put your mind into it."

"Please spare me," the red head sighed deeply. "This is only our first day; let me be carefree a little longer." He then turned to Neville again. "But she's right though. You shouldn't think like that."

"But…But…" The poor boy stuttered, looking around his friends. But Harry cut him off.

"Don't worry about the hallway incident," he said flatly. "Courage isn't always about charging forward to face the enemy. You were able to stand up to them on the train; that was enough proof. It was just that your mind was occupied by something else earlier and it affected your confidence at that moment, nothing else," the boy then smiled gently at his friend. "I assure you that the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor for a reason, and I don't think that it was wrong. So cheer up, okay? We will help you with your study. So just come to us if you have any problem."

Ron and Hermione nodded at his words, though the red head didn't look very sure about helping someone else with school works.

"Really?" Neville perked up at the offer. After looking around at his friends, the boy smiled brightly and started eating his own lunch.

* * *

In the afternoon, Harry's group left the Great Hall after lunch break and moved down to the dungeon for two periods of Potions.

_I wonder what kind of person professor Snape is. He tried to read my mind yesterday during the Ceremony, _thought Harry as they sat down at the table. On the other side of the room, the Slytherins had also arrived and he could see Daphne Greengrass amongst them. The girl flashed him a quick smile before taking her seat.

But Harry didn't have time for any remark or question, since as soon as the class is filled; the door was opened once again and professor Snape walked in. Just like professor McGonagall, he started his class by telling everyone about the importance of Potions before moving on to the roll call. This time, he stopped at a particular name.

"Ah, Harry Potter," Snape smirked. "Our new…Celebrity."

Many mocking snorts could be heard from the Slytherin table after that statement. Harry, on the other hand, could clearly saw the teacher's attempt to provoke him. It was unknown why he did that though.

_He doesn't like me, it seems. The looks in his eyes when he read my name out loud is so…strange, _the boy noted as he calmly observe Snape. All of a sudden, their gazes met, and Harry could once again feel the sharp attack on his mental barrier. This time however, since no one had tried to invade his mind at all today, Harry still had enough prana to push away the Potions Master's attack.

Snape's eyes widened in shock as Harry stared back at him. But that soon changed into a hateful glare.

"Potter," he growled. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"I don't know, sir," Harry answered truthfully, still refusing to look away from the man in front of him.

"Another question: Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"I don't know, sir," he repeated. Of course, Harry had already read some of his books during the month before. However, he was too busy with all the practicing and cleaning to look through all of them. Needless to say, the book about Potions was one of those that were left for later reading.

"Fame clearly isn't everything, eh?" Snape sneered. And the boy could feel another incoming attack aim for his barrier.

"Certainly, sir, especially when you don't even remember what you did to archive that fame," he shrugged. _And you can stop doing this. It's not going to work, _just like with the Hat the day before, Harry let part of his thoughts slipped outside. _I'm sorry for being rude, But I'm starting to wonder if you are here to teach us or you are going to make us read our school books beforehand and all you need to do is sit back while trying to peek into your students' minds._

"You…" The man's face instantly turned from its normal pale color to a furious shade of white, no doubt from hearing what he had just been told. "Get out of my class, you insolent brat."

"But what did I do, sir?" Cocking his head to the side, Harry put on the innocent face that he learned from Zelretch. "All I did was to agree with you that I don't deserve that fame. And you want to chase me out of your class for that? What if the Headmaster hears about this…"

In front of him, Snape's teeth were gritting together furiously, and the man looked like he was about to rush over and strangled Harry right where he was.

"SIT DOWN!" In the end, he shouted. "And I'll take twenty points from Gryffindor for your disrespect, Potter."

"I still don't get where I was being disrespectful. But it's your decision," the boy sighed deeply in an obvious fake depressed manner and then sat down, all the while trying to hide the mischievous grin that was about to show on his face if he wasn't careful. Around the class, everybody else was staring at him in shock, some in awe after seeing his confrontation with the dreaded Potions Master. Of course, none of them had any idea of what Harry actually said that had enraged the professor. The only exception was Hermione, she was glaring at him in clear disagreement, maybe from the fact that he just managed to lose another twenty points that the two of them had earned from the previous classes.

The rest of the class passed by peacefully with Snape occasionally threw glares at Harry. But other than that, there was nothing worth noting. They were arranged into pairs to practice brewing the potion that was written on the blackboard. Harry was paired with Ron while Hermione choose to be with Neville to help him with the subject. And the final result was acceptable. Both of their groups received belittling comments from Snape, but weren't got subtracted any more point. Also, Harry's mental barrier wasn't under attack anymore, which could be considered a good improvement.

* * *

"You shouldn't have angered professor Snape like that, Harry," just as Harry expected, Hermione had stated complaining as soon as they stepped out of the dungeon.

"I didn't," he said firmly, looking straight into her eyes. "All of you were there and saw it too. All I did was agree with him. I don't even know why it made him that mad."

"He was right, Hermione," Ron cut in while Neville nodding in agreement. "Snape was being totally unfair. He _hates_ Harry. Didn't you see the way he looked at him?"

Being cornered by her three other friends, Hermione opened her mouth and was about to retort, but couldn't find anything to say. In the end, the girl just quietly shook her head as they walked in to the History of Magic classroom.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was now standing in front of a spacious Western style mansion, the one whose address was given to him by Harry Potter. Having carefully disillusioned himself before coming, the old wizard pulled out his wand and started asserting the wards around the house. Part of this was because of Harry's request, but it was also due to his own curiosity wanting to find out just how capable that Zelretch person actually was.

Making complicated wand movements to test the wards' abilities, Dumbledore let his thoughts wander back to that morning's conversation.

_I didn't expect the Potters' son to behave that way, _the Headmaster recalled Harry's earlier attitude. The boy was polite, of course, but also a bit rebellious and calculating. Dumbledore had been looking forward to a more obedience and simpler manner from the eleven years old child. _But obviously I didn't expect a lot of other things, like the treatments the Dursleys have for their nephew. If such things were true, then it's already a miracle that Harry Potter didn't turn out to be a delinquent. However, his lack of reaction after hearing about James and Lily's deaths is worrying though…_

The old man sighed heavily. After receiving report from Severus Snape about how the Potion Master was unable to use Legilimency on Harry, who appeared to be able to notice it, Dumbledore had decided against himself trying to do the same. This was a critical time to gain the trust of the Potters' son. There would be plenty other opportunities to do so in the future once the boy had been placed carefully under his watch.

With the last flick of his wand, the Headmaster finished his spells chain. Shocking enough, the result that he got was unimaginable: He couldn't recognize any of the wards used on that mansion. Of course, the protection they offer was flawless, but their structures were so alien. Obviously, that only took it one step closer to the perfect defense system since those wards couldn't be taken down by any normal methods.

"Are you having fun with my work, Headmaster?" All of a sudden, a voice came from behind made Dumbledore instantly turned around. Standing there was an old man in a formal black suit and white gloves who was no doubt Zelretch, his short white hair was well-kept and the confidence aura emitting from him showed that this was no ordinary person. And above all else, it was the man's crimson red eyes that caught Dumbledore's attention.

_How could he see me? _The old wizard frowned uncomfortably. _I'm sure that I've disillusioned myself perfectly. Could it be that those eyes have the same ability as Moody's eye?_

"There is no need to be alarmed," Zelretch smiled and waved his hand. "I can sense magic around me. That's why I can see you and your spells which were used to test my wards earlier. But let's not linger here any longer, shall we? How impolite of me to make a guest stay outside like this. Let's go into the house so we can take off that disguise." The man then started to lead the way back into the mansion.

Dumbledore hesitated for a moment before following Zelretch. Once they were inside, he dismissed the Disillusion charm and put away his wand.

"Please have a seat," said Zelretch pointing at a luxurious armchair with comfortable cushioning next to the dining table, which the old wizard was sure wasn't there a moment ago. Of course, conjuration magic is nothing to be surprise about. However, it was the fact that the man in front of him appeared to be using some kind of wandless magic that was taking his interest.

"You must've heard of me already," said Dumbledore as they both sat down. "I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. And I'm here today to talk about Harry Potter's guardianship."

"Ah yes," Zelretch nodded understandingly. "I'm sure you are. I'm Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, or Zelretch for short. I've already received words about your visit, as well as the details of your talk with Harry this morning."

"And how did you do that?" The Headmaster raised an eyebrow. "Even the fastest owl couldn't fly that far in such a short time."

"I and Harry have our own way of communicating that doesn't require an owl," the man simply answered. "But that isn't the point of this meeting, is it? As far as I know, you are here to discuss assigning the boy to another guardian. Also…" He then smirked mischievously. "You can stop trying to look into my brain. By the way, it was me who taught Harry how do protect his mind, so don't bother try reading him either, as his barrier is as effective as mine."

"I apologize," Dumbledore replied uncomfortably, obviously wasn't used to being caught red-handed like that. "It's just an old habit from the previous War acting up. Anyway, since you've already been informed of my purpose, can we talk about it now?"

"Of course. Let me ask you something first: Will you or will you not agree to Harry's proposals?"

"I will," answered the old wizard. He had given a lot of thoughts about those terms, and this was simply the best course of action available. Dumbledore couldn't afford having Harry left Hogwarts. If he didn't agree to what the boy said and let him come back to this mansion, there would be a good chance that he would never see Harry Potter again since even the Headmaster himself couldn't take down the strange wards surrounding this place.

"Very well. It's always very pleasant doing business with understanding people," from the other side of the table, Zelretch grinned in satisfaction, but Dumbledore could clearly see a trace of mocking tone in his voice. "Then here's my answer. I'll let the Weasley family to be the boy's legal guardian. But I have another term: Harry will have to come back here during Christmas vacation."

"May I ask why that is?"

"I have my reason," the man answered vaguely. "Though I see the need to warn you that Harry is a very sharp and mature young man, so just don't try to manipulate him. He will be fine on his own. May I hear your answer?"

"That's acceptable," the Headmaster nodded. He didn't like what he was forced into doing, but there was no other choice. With the secret communication method in place, Harry could be listening to their conversation right now. Even if that wasn't the case, these details could still be delivered to the boy by the end of the day. And if he turned down that proposal, things might just go ugly. Needless to say, Dumbledore was now in a much more disadvantage position than he would like to admit.

"Thank you very much," Zelretch nodded with a polite smile. "So is there anything else you want to discuss with me?"

"That's everything. Please excuse me and thank you for your time," replied the old wizard while standing up and gave a slight bow. It wasn't good to linger around in such a suspicious place, while dealing with someone he knew that he couldn't take advantage of.

"In that case, let me see you out."

"There's no need to," Dumbledore looked back at Zelretch. "Sorry for disturbing your afternoon," with that, he got out of the mansion and apparated back to Hogwarts. His mind was racing in order to sketch out future plans.

_At least now I have Harry Potter under my surveillance, _he silently noted. _I will figure out how to deal with the other problems later._

**End of Chapter 6.**


End file.
